


Marauders Year One

by TheMusicalTrash



Series: Marauders Series [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1970s, Friendship, Gen, Gryffindor, Hogwarts, Hogwarts First Year, Light Angst, Magic, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Prequel, School, Teenagers, Wizarding World (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 49,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24465979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMusicalTrash/pseuds/TheMusicalTrash
Summary: The year is 1971, a new group of students are starting at Hogwarts. Among these children are James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Lily Evans, and Severus Snape. Within this group, some will make friendships, even in the first week, that will last a lifetime. For others, however, friendship doesn't seem possible. Their first year will start the foundation for the next seven years of their lives.
Series: Marauders Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1336576
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. The Letter

James tapped his foot nervously as he sat and waited on the couch. He looked out the window of his living room, the sun had almost started to set, he was so excited he could not help, but ask again.

"Mum!" Mrs. Potter responded only by turning the page and smiling to herself. "MUM" James tried again to get his mother's attention.

"Hmmm," Mrs. Potter hummed absentmindedly while flipping the page of a her new potions book once more.

"When am I going to get my letter?" he asked with a hopeful look on his face. She grabbed a bookmark off of the coffee table and put it in her book before slowly closing her book and putting it in her lap. She sighed but turned with a smile.

"Just like I told you the last six times, it takes some time for the owl to fly here" James cast his gaze down, he hated waiting and could never sit still for more than a few minutes, this entire day was agony for him, all he wanted was to get his Hogwarts letter and he was determined to wait in the living room until the moment it arrived.. It was his eleventh birthday, he had been waiting his whole life for this and now the day was here 27 March 1971.   
It was a tradition that every kid receive their Hogwarts letter on the day they turned eleven. He had no doubt that he would get a letter, both of his parents attended Hogwarts and he had already shown signs of magic, so in that regard, his mind was not troubled. However, as the day stretched on and the clock was inching closer to two o'clock, James was growing impatient.

James was interrupted from his excited thoughts as the letters were pushed through the mail slot. He jumped up and ran over to the door, picking up the stack of mail. He filed through them quickly, nearly missing his own name. He dropped all the other letters on the floor as he looked at the neat emerald green ink on the yellowed parchment envelope. "James Potter! You better not have thrown those other letters on the floor" his mum shouted from the living room.

Ignoring his mother's previous statement, James shouted. "Mum! I got my letter!" She walked over to the young boy and looked at the envelope in his hand before stooping down to collect the rest of the discarded letters.  
"Well go on then, you've only been waiting all day" his mother smiled while nodding towards the letter indicating that he should open it. Shaking away his shocked feelings, he opened the envelope and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL   
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by now later than July 31.  
Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall   
Deputy Headmistress

He then turned to the supply list, head already filled with wild fantasies and fanatical dreams of what awaited him during the upcoming school year.

First-year students will require:

Uniform:  
\- Three Sets of Plain Work Robes (Black)  
\- One Plain Pointed Hat (Black) for day wear  
\- One Pair of Protective Gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
\- One Winter Cloak (Black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all student's clothes should carry name-tags at all times

Books:  
\- The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk  
\- A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
\- Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
\- A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
\- One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
\- Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
\- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
\- The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment:  
\- 1 Wand  
\- 1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
\- 1 set of glass or crystal vials  
\- 1 telescope  
\- 1 set of brass scales  
Students may also bring an Owl, a Cat, or a Toad

*Note that if students should choose to bring their own broom it will be stored in the school's broom cupboard and that any misbehavior caused by said broom may result in loss of the privilege of having your own broom*

He was more than excited. He was going to go to the school of his dreams and make so many new friends. The young boy turned to his mum and said, "When can we go to Diagon Alley?"

He knew there was still about five months until school, but he wanted to go as soon as possible.   
Mrs. Potter chuckled at her kids' hopeful antics, reminding herself that is was a good thing James was excited about school.

"We'll go when it gets closer to school, Jamesy, it's a little too soon to be getting all of those books just yet. Besides its not like you were planning on getting a head start on reading"

"Okay then, I guess I can wait a little bit longer," James said, before adding, "And don't call me Jamesy, I'm too old for those nicknames" He said, puffing his chest out to look tougher.

"Aw, but you'll always be my little Jamesy-Wamsey," She said ruffling his already very messy almost-black hair that always made him look like he was just getting out of bed. James quickly moved to fix his hair, but there was no point, everyone knew James' hair would be perpetually unruly and nothing could fix it– to be fair, James did prefer it messy, even if it were to be tamed down, James would just muss it. Walking to his bedroom, James waited for his father to come home to tell him the exciting news.

The Potter family dinner that night was full of stories from their time at Hogwarts. Tales of teachers, amazing classes, and Quidditch rivalries were exchanged. With each word from his parents, Jame's mental picture of Hogwarts became clearer and he grew more excited.

It wasn't until about three months later that James actually went to Diagon Alley to get his books. Accompanied by his mother, the two navigated the cobblestone streets picking up books and supplies, the very last thing on his list was a wand. Walking quickly behind his mother, James made his way to Ollivander's.

Ollivander's wand shop was where nearly everyone who goes to Hogwarts gets their wands. Stepping into the store, James was overwhelmed. The musty and slightly dark building was covered wall to wall and ceiling to floor with wand boxes. As he looked around, he bumped into an older man who was bustling about the shop.

"Ah! Hello, here to purchase a wand I gather" Mr. Ollivander exclaimed. By his tone, James gathered that the man was just a tad on the eccentric side.

"Yes sir, I am. I'm James Potter"

"Well come this way Mr. Potter, I take it Euphemia took you here?"

James was taken aback but nodded calling for him mom who joined him at his side, smiling warmly at Mr. Ollivander.

"It feels like only yesterday I gave you your wand" he mused. "Mahogany with a Unicorn core, was it not?"

"Yes, indeed." she smiled "James here is heading to Hogwarts this year"

"Ah, Mr. Potter let's figure out which wand will choose you."

"Choose me?" James questioned.

"Of course," Ollivander said as if it were obvious "the wand chooses the wizard, not the other way around."

James was first measured, his arm length and height recorded mentally by Ollivander. Then the eccentric wizard bustled about the store and James was handed box after box of wands that caused chaos around the shop. One wand knocked over a bookshelf and another exploded a plant. Finally, he was handed a wand, and the second it touched his hand he knew when he swished the wand golden sparks flew out and danced before his very eyes. Purchasing the wand, James left the shop with his mom.

On the way out of Diagon Alley, Mrs. Potter surprised James by letting him purchase a broom. Finally going home, James was excitedly practicing his flying and organizing his books in his trunk, readying himself for the beginning of the next seven years of his life.


	2. The Train

Despite young James Potter being so eager to go to Hogwarts, it was quite a struggle to get him out of the house in the morning, the Potters were much later than they would have liked to have been getting on to the platform at King's Cross Station. After loading his bags and hugging his mum and dad, he got on the train and looked for a compartment. He found another boy with short black hair, only slightly darker than his own very dark brown hair. "You late too?"

"Yeah, glad I'm not the only one," James said scratching the back of his neck. "I'm James, by the way."

"Sirius Black," he smiled, "We should get going so we can find a compartment to sit in"

"Yeah, let's go" The two boys hurried along as they started checking in the compartments looking for one that does not have a lot of people in it. As they neared the last couple of compartments they finally found a compartment with two kids who looked their age. One was a boy with long greasy black hair, a hollowed, sharper face, and a hooked nose. The other, however, was a young, pretty girl with fiery red hair. Even from a first glance, James took a special liking to this girl. They sat down, at first not mentioning that the other two were in the wrong compartment. They seemed to be in a very heated conversation.

"I don't want to talk to you," her voice sounded constricted.

"Why not?" the boy responded

"Tuney h-hates me. Because she saw that letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?" the boy quickly said earning a look of deep dislike from the redhead.

"So she's my sister!"

"She's only a —" they boy seemed to catch himself because he did not continue his sentence. The girl did not seem to notice or hear what he said, and if she had, then she did not press it farther. "But we're going!" he exclaimed after a pause. "This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!"

The girl nodded, wiping tears out of her eyes and, in spite of herself, she gave him a half-smile."You'd better be in Slytherin," her friend said, encouraged that she had brightened a little.

"Slytherin?" the girl questioned. Up until this point, neither James nor Sirius had shown any interest in talking to the two misplaced students, but now James piped up.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius who was lounging on the seat opposite him, Sirius did not smile.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed alright!"

Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"  
James lifted an invisible sword and pretended to swing it around, stabbing at the air as if it were a potential attacker.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Just like my dad." James had a big grin on his face

The other boy made a small, but noticeable disparaging noise. James turned on him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," was the response, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy – "

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. The girl sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo..." The two boys chimed in watching the two people leave.

James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" a voice called, as the compartment door slammed.

They laughed for a while before someone knocked and then opened the door. "Hey, is it alright if I sit here?" The boys looked up, "Yeah 'course" he responded.

"I'm Remus Lupin," he said as he sat down, sticking his hand out.

"James Potter" the boy with unruly hair replies accepting the handshake. He sat down opposite the boy. 

"I'm Sirius, Sirius Black" the boy sitting opposite of James says.

The train ride went on smoothly, the three boys becoming fast friends talking about Quidditch scores and teams, funny jokes from friends, and sharing stories. They hardly stopped laughing as they talked and ate a lot of candy from the trolley cart. "So, what house are you hoping to be sorted in Remus. Personally, I'm hoping for Gryffindor."

"I'm probably gonna get Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor seems really cool" Remus replied.

"I'm hoping for Gryffindor too," Sirius said, now confident that he could break his family's tradition.

James turned a little shocked "Wait that means that we could all be dormmates!"

"I probably won't be sorted into Gryffindor so I wouldn't get your hopes up. As fun as it would be to all be dormmates, you never know where we will be sorted." Sirius said.

"I hope we are all sorted into Gryffindor," James said sounding genuinely hopeful. Sirius smiled to himself, knowing that James and he would be good friends.

"Likewise," Remus said. Sirius and James made eye contact and then looked at Remus, before bursting into laughter.

"Likewise? Seriously mate! Who says likewise?" Sirius says still in a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Even Remus had joined in laughing at this point.

"Oh come on guys," Remus said still laughing along with the other two. Every time they stopped laughing they would look at each other and start laughing again. They only stopped when there was a knock at the door. An older student opened the cabin door. He was the Ravenclaw prefect according to the pin on his robes.

"We are getting close to Hogwarts, you guys had better get changed into your uniforms" he proclaimed, his nose was practically turned up in arrogance, he just had this aura about him, he thought he was better than the three boys in the cabin, and it showed. After the arrogant boy left the cabin, the boys waited a few seconds before bursting into laughter again. They took turns turning their noses up and mocking the older boy.

When they finally settled down, Remus piped up saying "Alright you lot, we actually need to change into our robes." The two other boys nodded and they all went off to change. The three boys came back to the compartment as the train was nearing Hogsmeade Station. They gasped as they got their first glance at the castle. The train stopped and the group made their way off onto the platform.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" A giant man was yelling, he was double the height of a normal man and at least five times as wide. In addition to that, he had long tangles of bushy black hair and a beard that hid the majority of his face. The first years pushed their way through the crowds of students to get closer to the man. "C' mon, follow me— any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me!" They followed the man, who according to the whispers in the crowd, was named Hagrid, down a steep, narrow path. The narrow path opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. If you looked up, there was a high mountain on the other side, its windows lighting up the night sky, was the castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of small boats sitting in the water by the shore. They appeared to be the kind of boat you would row, similar to a canoe, but strangely there was nothing to paddle with. The three boys climbed into the boat followed by a girl who introduced herself as Marlene McKinnon. Hagrid shouted "Everyone in? Right then -- FORWARD!"


	3. Sorting Hat

**Sorting hat song from @Rowling_Games on chamberofchathelp.com**

As the first years filed up the stairs, they were greeted by a tall thin woman with a severe expression, her demeanor was even more intimidating when you factor in her hair, which was dark and tied in a tight, neat bun. She cleared her throat, immediately getting all of the 11-year-olds attention. "Welcome to Hogwarts, I am Professor McGonagall. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." She looked around making eye contact with many of the jittery kids.

"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." As she named them you could see different children perk up at the mention of their preferred house.

"Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will receive the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours." The children looked around, it was as if a weight had settled upon the young children if they were not nervous before, they were now. The pressure was on.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She finished, pausing to let the message sink into the children. They all rummaged around straightening their robes and running nervous fingers through their hair. Particularly, James was unsuccessfully wrestling trying to sort out his unruly hair. She looked at the bunch once more before saying, "I shall return in a moment when we are ready for the ceremony. Please wait quietly." Professor McGonagall says before exiting the room.

The new students sat in an almost eerie silence, all that could be heard was some quiet murmurs from across the crowd of about 70 children who were about to be sorted. Suddenly, a sharp voice recognized immediately by the first years to be Professor McGonagall, cut in saying "The sorting ceremony is about to begin, please form a line and follow me." They did as she instructed and were lead through the gigantic double doors into what was called the Great Hall.

It was breathtaking, the hall was lit by thousands of candles suspended in midair over four long tables, where another 210 students were sitting. In front of every student, as well as some empty places, there were golden plates and goblets. In front of the hall, there was another long table where all the teachers were sitting. McGonagall led the first years up there so that the group settled in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.

The hundreds of faces staring at them making many of the kids even more nervous if that was possible. Professor McGonagall then placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. And atop the stool, she placed a pointed wizard's hat. But it was not like the new hats one would see while browsing Diagon Alley, no this hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty, it was apparent that without the sewn-on sections, the hat just might fall apart at the seams. The new students seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when they found out how they would be sorted. Up until this point, it sounded as if they would be tested in some way to be placed in their houses. Finding out all they had to do was sit on a stool with a hat on their heads was a huge weight lifted off of their shoulders. Even still, it was silent as everyone waited for something to happen, or one of the teachers to speak up. After a few seconds, the hat twitched and the brim opened, resembling a mouth, and the hat began to sing:

I may be old and frayed  
but don't let that betray you  
stitched and bewitched  
over a thousand years ago  
The four greatest witches and wizards of the time  
United by one single desire  
The wish to inspire  
and help young minds.  
So a place of education  
was the creation.  
The founders four  
Helga Hufflepuff of valley broad  
Rowena Ravenclaw from the glen  
Godric Gryffindor of wild moor  
Salazar Slytherin from the fen.  
From these noble names  
four houses were born.  
Gryffindor which houses the bold and brave,  
Ravenclaw selected those filled with cleverness,  
Hufflepuff welcomed the loyal who loved to toil  
Slytherin chose only those who are pure.  
Their differences are what defined them  
Together they stood, never to be divided  
but what brought them together  
soon sought to tear them apart.  
Battles were fought  
over Hogwarts  
soon the time had come  
for one to depart  
So four became three  
Which house will it be?  
Put me on and I will see

The entire hall burst into frantic applause as the hat finished, and the first years joined in after overcoming the shock. The hat bowed to each of the four tables before becoming fairly still once again. Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment and began reading off names.

"Belby, Millie" a small scared looking girl approached the stool, sat down, and had the hat placed on her head.

After a few seconds, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!" The whole Great Hall erupted into claps and cheers, in particular, the Ravenclaw table was super happy to have a new addition. Next was a girl named Beverly who was sorted into Slytherin. She joined her table and once the hall settled down, McGonagall consulted her parchment once again.

"Black, Sirius" Sirius walked away from his new friends and sat on the stool. He had the hat on for a bit longer than two minutes, and he seemed to be deep in thought, almost as if he was having an argument in his head. After the long silence, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR"

Unlike the two students previous to him, the kids did not clap, in fact, most kids were silent as all cast their gaze to the Slytherin table who, after shaking off their shock, started shouting.

"But he's a Black!"

"You're a Disgrace!"

"Blood Traitor"

"There must be some mistake!"

"How dare you"

"Re-sort Him"

Among others, which would probably be better left unsaid. A scared, but happy-looking Sirius walked over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat, smiling at James and Remus who looked ecstatic.

After Dumbledore silenced the crowd, the ceremony continued, with another girl named Aggie who was sorted into Gryffindor as well. The girl with fiery red hair from the train, who was revealed to be named Lily Evans was sorted into Gryffindor.

More and more children got sorted and then eventually Remus who despite his doubts, joined Sirius at the Gryffindor table. After a particularly ugly Slytherin named Malcolm Nott was sorted, a very anxious-looking boy named Peter Pettigrew sat and was also sorted into the house of the brave. Directly following Peter, James was sorted into Gryffindor, which was no surprise to him, he strutted over to the table and haphazardly threw himself right next to Lily, extending his hand and saying "I'm James."

Apparently, she had forgotten, or chosen to move past what happened on the train, because she shook his hand and said very happily, "Hi, I'm Lily"

More people were sorted and the crew of new Gryffindors clapped politely after everyone, with only four kids left, Severus was called, and almost instantly sorted into Slytherin, Sirius watched as he took a seat next to Lucius, Andromeda, and Bellatrix among some of his other cousins and family members. The boy began to wonder what kinds of hell he would have to pay for his sorting.

Snapped out of his thoughts, Sirius turned his attention to Headmaster Dumbledore, who was making a speech about the upcoming year. After the Headmaster had finished, the food magically appeared on the previously empty platters and everyone began eating while happily chatting with their new housemates.


	4. Dorm Mates

The newly sorted first years went their separate ways led by the house prefects to their common rooms. The Gryffindors were headed up to the Gryffindor tower, and the ten newly sorted children were extremely excited to see where they would be living for the majority of the next seven years of their lives. The eager group went through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries until they finally approached a portrait of an overweight woman dressed in pale pink satin robes, seated in front of some very pretty scenery. "Password?" she asked.

"Nova Discipulus," the Prefect said, his name was Matthias. The portrait swung open revealing a round hole in the wall. Matthias climbed in first, followed by all of the first years. On the other side of the wall, was a round room covered in red and gold decor, with a lot of squishy armchairs and couches. In addition to the surplus of seating, there were a couple of tables and a roaring fire in the fireplace surrounded by couches. Opposite of the portrait hole there were two doorways with spiral staircases. Their prefect explained that that was the staircases to the boys and girls dorms respectively. The girls walked up their stairs, disappearing to the dorm they shared. James watched Lily the whole walk until she was out of sight. Meanwhile, Marlene had said goodbye to Sirius as they had apparently already become friends during the feast. It was also at the feast where James, Sirius, and Remus got to properly meet Peter. Peter was a mousy kind of guy, and quite fidgety. He was also fairly quiet and tended to only speak after being spoken too. James and Sirius seemed to intimidate him, but Remus, who was much calmer and complacent, seemed to friend him much easier.

Soon after the ladies had left the common room, the boys had walked upstairs to their own dorm room. The doors were fairly large with four identical four-poster beds, hung with deep, red velvet curtains. The boys' trunks had already been brought up and they were sat in front of their beds. Closest to the bathroom and farthest from the door, Sirius went and sat on the bed to the right where his trunk was placed. To Sirius' left, James was, since they already had a budding friendship, this placement was just perfect for the boys. Across from Sirius on the left side of the room was Remus. Likewise, across from James, next to Remus, was Peter. In addition to the four beds, there were two desks on either side of the room, closest to the door. The curious boys could not stay seated for too long, however, because they all went over to the bathroom which had two sinks, a normal-sized shower, and a toilet.

The boys unpacked a little, putting some things in drawers, moving their toiletries to the counter and drawers in the bathroom, sorting through their uniforms and new ties, scarves, and such. After getting everything somewhat organized, they all sat down on James and Sirius' beds. Peter and James were sat on James' and Remus and Sirius on the latter.

"Alright mates, we're gonna be living together for the next seven years, so hopefully you blokes are complete arses, I'm James," James said.

"Beautifully said," Remus remarked sarcastically, " 'm Remus."

"Sirius."

"P-peter" the fourth boy stuttered out, he was clearly intimidated, he was a smaller boy with dark beady eyes, a small nose, and small ears, he had light blondish hair that was cut as if his mum did it with her kitchen scissors, which unbeknownst to the other three boys, was actually what had happened.

"Cool, you guys seem pretty nice," Remus said, leaning back on the bed looking rather tired, his shirt rode up revealing an extremely scarred stomach, but he tugged it down before anyone saw or asked about it. The other boys seemed to be more alive than ever despite how late it was. Sirius glanced out of the window looking at all of the stars in the night sky.

"Hello! Earth to Sirius!" James waved his hand in front of Sirius' face. He snapped back to reality.

"Sorry mate zoned out"

"It's fair enough, the stars are beautiful tonight" Peter piped in. The three boys looked out the window.

"You know, I'm named after a constellation" Sirius said, almost wistfully, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

"Canis Major, the brightest star visible from any place on Earth" Remus added, agreeing.

"Yeah, my brother's name is Regulus"

"What the bloody hell, mate, your parents must be really into astronomy," James said with a laugh.

"Yeah, it's crazy, I keep waiting for them to get an owl named Castor or something" Sirius chuckled back.

"I don't know what that is, but I'm assuming it's another star," James said amused.

"It is" both Remus and Sirius said at the same time. That was the breaking point for the group, they all burst into laughter. The new friends laughed and laughed until their stomachs hurt and they were all gasping for breath as they tried to settle down.

After a while they did, in fact, settle and relax back into the positions they were in before. At this point, Remus was partially leaning on Sirius and he looked exhausted.

"It's kind of late, maybe we should get some sleep, we have a long first day of lessons ahead of us tomorrow," Peter said, looking a bit sleepy himself.

"You're probably right," James said, the other boys agreed and they all got up to get ready for the night. Peter and Remus took showers and then settled into their respective beds. James and Sirius however, agreed to both shower before breakfast the next day.

As all the boys got quieter and were tucked into bed for the night, Remus looked out of the window once more, gazing at the nearly full moon with a wary look, before drifting off to sleep. Peter had gone to sleep the second his head hit the pillow and James had only taken minutes before the drowsiness overtook him as well.

A young Sirius was the only one left awake as he recalled the events of the day. He met some amazing new people, showed up at the school of his dreams, was sorted into Gryffindor. He paused. Sorted into Gryffindor. _Gryffindor._ He was going to be in a world of trouble when his family found out.

Deciding to not dwell on that fact, he turned over in bed and pulled up his covers, closing his eyes and hoping that he would fall asleep soon. Eventually, all four boys were asleep and very excited about the school day that was about to come.


	5. School

The sun had barely begun to peek over the horizon when James woke up. He was an early riser getting up every morning at around 6:00, which was near to when the sun rose. He sat up and looked around, the other boys were still fast asleep. James swung his legs to the side of his bed and stood up. Quietly, he made his way to the bathroom and walked in, closing the door slowly, being careful not to wake anybody up as he did so. He showered and dressed walking back over to his bed. As he sat down, Sirius stirred, and turned over in his bed, now facing James. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he mumbled something. James shushed him "Remus and Peter are still asleep, we have to be quiet" James whispered.

"Mkay," Sirius said, still sounding quite sleepy "I'm gonna go take a shower" he added as he slowly stood up padding off to the bathroom while rubbing his eyes. Halfway through Sirius' very lengthy shower, Peter woke up. Only when Sirius came out of the bathroom, fully clothed and well-groomed and yelled "G' morning!" did Remus reluctantly wake up. By now it was about 7:00 and the sun was bright and warm.

Around 20 minutes had passed and finally, all of the boys were dressed in the uniform consisting of a white button-up shirt, a red and gold tie, slacks, and some black robes. Checking that all was in order, they headed down the stairs to the common room. A few of the girls had made it downstairs, one being Marlene McKinnon. Sirius walked up to her and they were quietly talking as everyone relaxed. In a few minutes time, the group made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast at 7:30. Luckily the moving staircases made a clear path to the Great Hall so they didn't get lost on their way.

The four boys sat together at the Gryffindor table. Remus and Sirius on one side, across from Peter and James respectively. About five minutes later after they piled their plates with food they were all handed their schedules by their prefect. The classes they had this year were: Charms, Astronomy, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, History of Magic, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Flying Lessons. Poor Peter seemed worried about Astronomy, it was once a week at midnight and he fear of falling asleep during the lesson.

They had four classes a day, two in the morning, followed by lunch and a break and then two in the afternoon. Today, the new Gryffindor students would have Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws.

The Great Hall was fairly quiet as people talked amongst themselves at the table. Things continued like this until hundreds of owls flew into the Great Hall. Audible gasps could be heard throughout the room, of course, the only truly shocked people were the new first years, but even so, there were some older students with grins that they could not keep contained. No matter how long you had been there, everyone at Hogwarts knew the castle would never cease to amaze them. The creatures swooped down and delivered all of the students' mail, all the care packages and letters were dropped to kids who were already starting to miss their families.

Slowly, people began to stand up, being finished with their meal they stood to start heading to class. Directing his gaze up to the clock on the wall, Remus noticed the time. "Guys, it's a quarter 'til 9"

"Your point?" Sirius asked with his mouth full of an English muffin.

"Good God mate, don't chew with your mouth full." James laughed.

"My point is that lessons start at 9:00," Remus explained, matter of factly, "And if we're going to make it to Charms on time, we have to get all the way to the 3rd floor Charms corridor" Sirius groaned and angrily took another bite out of his muffin, James finished his eggs, and Peter happily stood grabbing his books. However begrudgingly, the whole lot of them stood and prepared to leave. All four of them went on their journey to their class.

................................................................................................................................................................

Professor Flitwick was an extremely short man, granted he had goblin ancestry, he had been teaching at Hogwarts for several years now and was the head of Ravenclaw House. Everyone settled down at desks. Everyone was partnered off: James with Sirius, Remus with Peter, Marlene with Lily, Kendra with Aggie, and Wendy with Michelle. All of the Gryffindors were seated at the five tables with their partners, textbooks, wands, and a single white feather each.

"Hello, Students! I am your Charms Professor, Professor Flitwick. I hope this year will be not only informative but fun. To start off easy today, we will be practicing the Levitation Charm. Now if you would please turn to chapter seven of The Standard Book of Spells," announced Professor Flitwick. All of the students flipped in their books to find a chapter that started off with the Levitation Charm.

"Before we learn the incantation, we must master the hand movements. It's actually rather simple, it's just a swish and flick." Flitwick announced while doing the motion with his wand. All of the children eagerly picked up their wands and practiced the motion. After a while of this, and a few more tips from the professor, the students were now practicing the words of the spell. 'Wingardium Leviosa' Could be heard across the classroom as the students tried to perfect their enunciation in the hopes that the first time they try the charm it would be successful. After a while of this practice, the Gryffindors were deemed ready to actually perform the spell. The kids all pulled out their wands and began their attempt to make a feather levitate. At least five minutes had passed and no one had succeeded yet. A gasp was heard from one of the girls' tables, the four boys' heads snapped around looking at what had happened. They soon found that Lily had her feather about three feet above the table and a proud smile on her face.

"Well done, Ms Evans! Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Flitwick announced, he had barely finished speaking when Sirius' feather left the table, causing Sirius to send a smirk to James, who got very flustered and got his own feather to levitate.

With the two best friends bickering in the back of the class, Remus chuckled and then succeeded as well, followed by Marlene. After several minutes, everyone had triumphed except for Peter who was still struggling a bit, his feather was only wiggling and coming up about a centimetre off the table.

"Come on Peter, you've got this" James encouraged him from the table behind him. Peter smiled, finally happy to have friends, he uttered the spell once more and this time it worked. The whole room clapped, proud that the whole class had succeeded in the first lesson.

................................................................................................................................................................

Later that day, the Gryffindor first years were sat in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, it was a rather large classroom with tall vaulted ceilings, the walls were made of a kind of white stone and there were several tables placed in three horizontal rows all facing the teacher's desk. The Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor this term was Professor Ulinzi, but undoubtedly the professor would not be at Hogwarts for long. Typically, Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers leave after only one year, no one really knew why, but all of the students believed that the position is cursed. The newly appointed Professor Ulinzi was about as plain and boring as they come. He was an average height, with average brown hair, average brown eyes, he always wore modest practical clothing, and did not seem to love nor hate his job. In all accounts, he was the most average man in all of Hogwarts, the only interesting thing about him was the fact that his head was too large for his body. He had a typical build for a man in his late 40s but his head looked as if someone had used an engorgio charm and had never reversed it. As all the kids got out their books and quills the professor cleared his throat.

"As you may or may not know, I am Professor Ulinzi and I will be teaching you Defence Against the Dark Arts, this course will hopefully have a balanced mix of learning and practicing first-hand how to defend yourselves. Without further ado, please turn to page 14 in your textbooks. Today we will be learning about gnomes," he said "Gnomes, or gernumbli gardensi, are commonly found infesting a wizards' garden, and it is typically a foot tall. They have razor-sharp teeth and tend to bite if provoked. It is classified as a XX in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. One of its most defining features is its head which is disproportionate and is actually quite large" he paused looking at James and Sirius who were muttering to each other and snickering in the back of the class. Sirius had just whispered something along the lines of "Bet he is part gnome" when Ulinzi cut in. "Mister Black, Mister Potter what is so funny back there?" he did not sound mad, more just slightly aggravated.

"Nothing at all Professor" Sirius said in his most sarcastic sincere sounding voice he could muster, he turned and looked at James once more and they burst into another fit of giggles, if you looked closely you could see Remus kicking Sirius from under the table, composing himself enough to have a straight face and not laugh. To the left of Remus was an extremely red-faced looking Peter who did not seem to like the attention this ordeal had brought the group.

After a minute of debating, Ulinzi said: "Well, I would advise you to pay attention."

"Of course Professor," James said. The troublemakers were fairly quiet for the rest of class albeit a few smirks and laughs. When the bell rang the boys hurriedly made their way to lunch. After an hour of chatting and munching on food, they made their way to the Transfiguration classroom to have double Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws.

As they sat they found out that their teacher is the same woman who had led them into the Great Hall yesterday. She walked to the front of the classroom and cleared her throat.

"Greetings new students. I hope you are getting accustomed to your dorms and new dormmates. I am Professor McGonagall and I will be teaching you Transfiguration. I expect great things from each and every one of you and will not accept laziness from you. Transfiguration is one of the most challenging and dangerous courses you will take at Hogwarts. If you fool around you will not be permitted in my classroom. Now introductions out of the way, please take out some parchment and quills, today we will be learning how to turn a match into a needle."

After some long and complex notes, all of the students were actually allowed to try their hand at attempting to transfigure the object. Even from day one, all of the first-years could tell that this class was not going to be an easy one.

Following the challenging events of their last lesson, the Gryffindors had two hours of free time before lunch. Everyone went their own ways: Remus up to the library, James to the Quidditch pitch with his broom, Peter went to the Great Hall playing wizard's chess with Adrian a Hufflepuff first-year, Sirius up to the owlery, and all the girls up to their dorm happily chatting away. Later everyone was back together seated at the Gryffindor table eating dinner before heading upstairs to go to sleep.

The next morning flowed slightly sooner as the new students adjust to the time schedule. Today for the Gryffindors they first headed down to the dungeons for double Potions class with the Slytherins. Their Potions master Professor Slughorn was a larger man who was quite cheerful and energetic about Potions. In this particular class, they were discussing the different ingredients that they will be using in potions for class this year. After potions they had lunch, but after talking about sloths brains and lacewing flies most of them did not eat too much. After lunch, they headed to Transfiguration and then to History of Magic.

Although someone might find History of Magic interesting, rest assured none of the 11-year-old Gryffindor boys did. Professor Binns, who died one day a few years ago and showed up to teach his next class as a ghost, had the most monotone voice capable of making even the most interesting of topics a horrible lesson to endure. Nevertheless, they had to learn about history so everyone had to suffer through it to get to their 2 hours of free time. After their lessons, all of the kids ran off to do something less mind-numbing.

Later in the day, all of the students had eaten dinner and retired back to their rooms. Sirius was walking out of the bathroom with his toothbrush still in his mouth, he shivered and looked over to the open window, he walked back into the bathroom for a second before shouting from the bathroom "Oi, Moony shut the window" Remus looked up from the book he was reading confused. He looked around and saw that James was asleep in his bed and Peter was snoring softly in his bed. He glanced over to the open window and closed his book.

"Are you talking to me?" Remus shouts back, fear manifesting in his tone. Sirius reappears back from the bathroom, this time without his toothbrush.

"Your name practically translates to Wolf McWolf, and I figured since we're mates and all I'd give you a nickname, Moony just seemed to fit, don't you think?" He stated as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. Sirius glanced over to the two sleeping boys in their beds. "I'm sure James and Peter will have their own soon enough" he stated finally before going over to the window and shutting it himself. Remus smiled realizing that for the first time, he had true friends. He put his book on the table beside his bed and blew out the candle

"G'night Sirius," he said before going off to sleep, and just like that, all was calm in the dormitory.


	6. The Howler

It was quite a sluggish morning for the new first years on their first weekend at Hogwarts. It was almost eight o'clock when the boys finally made their way down to the Great Hall and sat down. They had all piled food onto their plates and began to happily eat while they discussed their first few days at Hogwarts.

Weekends at Hogwarts were typically quite relaxing. It was a day for kids to catch up on homework, gossip, and sleep. Every place beside the classrooms was bound to have students in them. The Quidditch pitch had several kids out practicing for tryouts. On that field included James Potter, zooming around on his Nimbus 1000 that he had to practically beg his parents for. James had his heart set on becoming a chaser for the Gryffindor team, and it was just his luck because one of the chasers last year was a 7th year, therefore he had an open spot. Essentially all of his free time had been devoted to practicing for the upcoming tryouts and in this case, Sirius had gone with him.

In the library sat a very tired looking Remus, busying himself with homework in the quiet space. After completing any work that could possibly be due for the upcoming week, he started reading a book he found on a random shelf. Peter, on the other hand, had gone up to the dorms and was taking a nap. The whole school was bustling with newfound happiness in the fact that no one was stuck in a classroom at the given moment. Eventually, however, Monday crept back around and classes were back. Things started forming a familiar routine for everyone. The new students had fairly quickly figured out what was going on, with the exception of a few muggle-born students who seemed perpetually confused, and all of the older students were glad to be at the school which had become like a second home for them.

Sunday night, Remus did not go to the dorm. He showed up on Monday morning looking very tired. His explanation was that his mother was ill and he had to go visit her. He added that he would probably be going fairly frequently, most likely on monthly trips. The boys were satisfied and all offered condolences and wishes for Remus' mum to feel better.

Classes were normal and boring as ever. The highlight of the mundane schedule had to be going to Defence Against the Dark Arts, which was a quick favourite for James in particular.

This commonality and routine came to an abrupt stop on Wednesday morning. Just like any other day, the boys awoke and fumbled around the room until about 7:15, when they finally collected themselves enough to all make it down for breakfast on time. The group of boys was sitting in what was becoming their regular spot when the owls arrived bringing all of the mail. One swooped down and dropped a red envelope in front of Sirius shocking the other three boys. Sirius had yet to get a single letter in the near week that they had been at Hogwarts. James turned to see what the boy received and his eyes widened.

"Sirius, d'ya know what that is?" James whispered concern made obvious by his tone of voice. Sirius turned and looked at him with a nearly blank expression. His jaw set and he exhaled before deciding to answer his best friend.

"It's a howler, I assume from my parents" Sirius stated quietly, his suspicions were confirmed when he turned over the letter to see the return address. He moved to open it, but James stopped him.

"What are you doing? Everyone is going to hear it!" James whisper-shouted at Sirius. Remus and Peter had now taken notice into the discussion that the others were having. A gasp was heard from Peter when he saw what his dorm mate held in his hand.

"Well they'll all bloody well hear it no matter how far away I go, these things can be heard for miles. And if I don't open it now then nothing good will come of it, now leave me be!" Sirius raised his voice slightly, but it wavered. It was obvious to his friends that he was more upset about this than he was letting on. Sirius opened the letter.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WERE SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR, AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE WE HAD TO FIND OUT FROM LUCIUS. THE REST OF THE FAMILY WOULD HAVE AT LEAST HAS THE DECENCY TO TELL US. YOU ARE ASSOCIATING WITH MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS. I ALSO FIND OUT FROM LUCIUS THAT YOU HAVE MADE NO ATTEMPT TO TALK TO YOUR COUSINS OR ANY OF THE OTHER RESPECTABLE PUREBLOOD CHILDREN YOU HAVE MET THROUGH THE FAMILY. ARE YOU TRYING TO IGNORE YOUR HERITAGE? YOUR FATHER AND I ARE ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE BLACK FAMILY NAME. YOU BETTER BE PREPARED TO BEG FOR FORGIVENESS WHEN YOU COME HOME FOR HOLIDAY!" After the message was complete, the letter burnt into nothingness.

Every head turned to Sirius where he sat at the Gryffindor table. A few children sat mouth agape, while the Slytherins smirked. Namely, Lucius Malfoy sat with his fellow sixth years as they chatted about what had just gone down. Sirius stood up and trudged out of the Great Hall. Shouts from his friends were heard, but he ignored them. After a few seconds, James went after him, leaving the Great Hall in stunned silence. Moments of awkward gazes were exchanged from student to student. Many glares coming from the Gryffindor table were sent towards the Slytherins.

James eventually found Sirius crumpled in the corner of a stairwell with his arms covering his face. He had taken off his robes and was left with his shirt rolled up to his elbows and a loosened tie as he sat silently. James approached slowly, almost as if he were worried about scaring Sirius. Sirius flinched, having heard James' footsteps approaching, he looked up, noticing who the footsteps belonged to and furiously wiped his eyes, trying to discard any remnants of the emotions he was feeling. He was about to say something, most likely a snappy remark about how James had a stain on his shirt from the jam toast he'd eaten at breakfast, but his voice failed him. He put his head in his hands and remained silent. James walked over and sat right next to him. Sirius had a lot of explaining to do.


	7. Broom

Relationships at Hogwarts were always changing and evolving. Being away from your parents and near so many children near your own age brought about tons of drama and also tons of fun. It wasn't particularly hard to make friends at Hogwarts and the children who were dormmates would always become as close as the proximity they lived in. Despite losing a group of children and gaining a new one every year, the people at Hogwarts were fairly constant. The seven years you would be spending time with the kids in your grade meant that everyone found friend groups fast.

James and Sirius had become as close as brothers in the mere two months that school had been in session, and ever since the howler incident, they seemed to have a newfound bond. To this date, no one other than the two boys really knew what happened, however, Remus and Sirius did have quite a long talk that night.

The staff at the school had an interesting relationship with the four fairly recently sorted boys, they knew that they were a force to be reckoned with and for the most part, the crazy pranks were dealt with in a series of detentions. Considering who the friend group was made up of—James and Sirius as a conniving duo and Remus with his extreme intelligence— they couldn't be stopped, and although Peter was more of a tag-a-long, he proved quite useful when their schemes unfolded.

Outside of their small group Sirius had become good friends with Marlene, although that was to be expected from day one, and Remus spoke commonly to Lily Evans, with both of them being at the head of their classes they could occasionally be found studying together in the library.

Whilst on the topic, Lily Evans was without a doubt the smartest Gryffindor first year (only placed above Remus for his serious lack of judgment when it came to the four boys pranks). Despite being a muggle-born, most of her time was spent with Severus Snape, who had been sorted into Slytherin just as he'd hoped on the initial train ride to Hogwarts.

Severus, often the focus of many of the Marauders' jokes, hung out with an interesting crowd of elitist Slytherins, the oldest of which would have to be Lucius Malfoy, who was currently in a relationship with Narcissa, Sirius' cousin. Ever since the day Narcissa brought Lucius home to meet her family, all of the Blacks took a liking to him. Except for Sirius who shared very little values with his family. Needless to say, Christmas was to be interesting in the Black household.

It was the first Wednesday in September and the Gryffindor students were at flying lessons. Their weekly lessons became a fast favorite for the boys, especially James and Sirius who were still quite set on obtaining their desired Quidditch positions.

Each of the houses' first years had one class a week, for the Gryffindors, that day was Wednesday. All of the students had slowly gotten better at controlling their brooms and were able to go higher and farther each week. Some of the students had their own brooms, but others were allowed to borrow brooms from the school. There was a shed for those who brought brooms for the school year and among those students were James and Sirius. The two boys headed over to one of the broom sheds.

As Sirius swung open the door to the shed he gasped. Peering over his shoulder, James shared his shocked expression. Their gaze was set on Sirius' broom which was snapped in half and had been quite dismantled. Sirius crouched down and noticed a note next to the broom.

"Blood Traitor"

Sirius crumpled the paper and sighed. He stood up and turned to James, his expression said it all, he had no clue what to do.

"You alright? 'M sorry mate" he ran his fingers through his hair causing it to look even messier than it was already. "You can borrow my broom, for now, maybe we can get you another one?"

"Don't worry about it James, it'll be alright. I can borrow a broom from school. Don't do anything you'll regret, okay? I don't really care all that much, wasn't even a good broom" Sirius was lying. Of course, he cared, Quidditch was super important to him and he had saved for months to get that broom, but he knew James. He was fiercely protective of his friends and would make it a big deal, and that is not at all what Sirius wanted. He turned walking out of the shed towards the rest of the class, James was quick to follow suit after grabbing his broom.

After a few words to Madame Hooch, Sirius walked away to return with one of the schools' brooms. In his absence, James muttered a few words of explanation to Remus and Peter, but on the whole nobody in the class mentioned anything.

They all continued with their class and had a pretty fun time practicing their Quidditch skills. Most of them had worked up quite the appetite by the time that dinner rolled around. The Gryffindors sat and piled on some food, however, two boys, in particular, were not eating much. One was clearly upset over the evening's previous events and the other had been looking a little sick ever since the boys saw him come back from one of his monthly off-campus visits.

As the day wound down and the students retreated up into the dormitories, things were uncharacteristically quiet. As a result of this, the boys were asleep far earlier than usual. In the morning, nobody spoke of the day before and everything continued as normal.


	8. Marauders

In the short time, they had been at Hogwarts, the first-year Gryffindor boys had established themselves as resident pranksters and trouble-makers. It had started off small, things that they didn't even get caught for, but as time goes on, the boys got more confident in their skills and now nearly every teacher on campus was aware of their tomfoolery. They had landed themselves in detention a number of times already, but they were nowhere near done.

Things had been quiet recently due to James and Sirius' continuous practice for the upcoming Quidditch tryouts. Others had never seen the boys working so hard on something in their lives, but no one was complaining. All of the teachers could use a break from the constant chatter and pranks.

Now it was October 30th, the Friday before Halloween and the Marauders were all piled onto James' bed as they talked. They were planning their biggest prank yet and it was all going down on Halloween night. The prank would be involving all of the Marauders being proficient in charms so they were all practicing now.

The big night came and The Flying Book Brigade was about to begin. The boys had snuck away from the Halloween feast to head to the library. After performing an impressive Leviosa charm, many of the books from the library started to float towards Ravenclaw Tower. The boys slipped back into the Great Hall and waited to watch their plan unfold. When the feast was over and everyone started making their way back to their rooms, chaos erupted. Even from a safe distance away from Ravenclaw tower, you could hear the chants. All of the books that were floating in circles around the tower were screaming "NERDS NERDS NERDS NERDS" The boys couldn't contain themselves when they saw the look on the Ravenclaw students faces'. They must have looked guilty because then they heard "Messrs. Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew!" They all turned to look at a very angry looking McGonagall. They stopped the charm and all the books dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The shouting from the enchanted books had gone quiet. The Ravenclaw kids walked into their tower and most of the other students began to walk away before they had to witness whatever kind of punishment McGonagall would inflict upon the troublemaking boys.

"My office now!" She asserted before turning and walking. She didn't need to tell them to walk behind her because the boys knew better, they hung their heads and followed her.

Down in Minerva's office, the boys were getting chewed out.

"What on earth were you boys thinking? Do you have any idea just how much trouble you are in right now? You're all a bunch of marauders. You stole books from the library and disturbed many sleeping paintings. Not to mention you owe a serious apology to the Ravenclaw students. You all could be doing so much with your talents and yet you choose to do this," she paused "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Sirius looked up, "I would like to say something"

"Go on Mister Black" she sighed

"I just wanted to put on record that you look ravishing today." Remus literally facepalmed, James kicked Sirius in the shins, Peter looked as if he might faint.

"A week's detention for all of you, and two weeks for you Mister Black"

"Yes ma'am" They all begrudgingly said before heading up to the Gryffindor common room. On the staircase, James paused on the steps.

"Marauders... I kind of like that."


	9. Secret Passageways

It was a weekend at Hogwarts and the majority of the upperclassmen were on a trip to Hogsmeade so the campus was deserted. With less than 100 kids on the grounds and a majority of them holed up in their respective rooms or common rooms, the hallways were essentially empty making it prime time for the boys to plan out their next prank, they had already had several successful pranks, but most of them were on the smaller scale. It had been nearly a whole month since the big Halloween prank and the marauders figured it was about time for another large scale prank.

The boys were scouting around campus looking for a new idea of what to do. The last large scale prank was targeted at the Ravenclaws, but this time the boys were going for a much more ambitious group. Targeted for this prank was none other than the Slytherins. The only problem was that for this scheme to work they needed to find a way to get from the dungeons to the Gryffindor common room in only a few minutes to avoid looking suspicious. In the 3rd floor corridor near the charms room, the boys tried to figure out a way to make their plan succeed. Peter was leaning on a tapestry on the wall before it fell down causing all the boys to turn their attention in that direction.

"Peter are you okay?" Remus asked.

"Yeah the tapestry just fell, I'm fine" he answered.

"Woah guys look!!" James exclaimed, shaking Sirius to get his attention. When the boys paid attention to the wall where the tapestry once hung they noticed there was a strange aperture with a wooden covering. The kids exchanged awestruck glances before Sirius stumbled forward to open the door like covering. Upon further inspection, it was noticed that they had uncovered a passageway. Being the curious children they were they figured the only way to get to the bottom of this mystery was to go through the tunnel. Before their unknown journey, they rehung the tapestry and made sure to recover the entrance.

It was very narrow in the passage only just big enough for the boys to comfortably walk single file with about a foot between the top of their head and the ceiling. Not to mention it was pitch black which meant that all four boys had to cast a Lumos charm to get through the tunnel without tripping. They followed along the path following any turns and eventually down a few staircases until they reached another door. They opened it and scrambled out of the tunnel and into a corridor. It didn't take long to realize that they were in the dungeons just yards away from the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Blimey, you guys! Do you know what this means?" Sirius exclaimed, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. The boys exchanged knowing looks as the realization hit them. Schemes were brewing in all of their heads. They sat down in an empty side corridor to finalize their plan before heading back up into the common room to wait.

At precisely 7:30 pm, the plan was put into motion. One by one, the boys made their way out of the Great Hall in a discreet way so as not to raise suspicion. They made their way down to the dungeon. James, Sirius, and Remus worked on the spells and incantations while Peter kept watch. Eventually, they finished and just in time seeing as it was not 7:55 pm. The boys raced to the secret passageway that they had found earlier and entered. Making sure to close the door and fix the tapestry, the boys clambered into the third-floor corridor and started their fast walk up to the 7th floor. They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, which was posted at the entrance of the common room, and stated the password "cogitationem pessimam". When they got into the common room they immediately spread out to look as casual as possible. Remus reclined on the couch and began reading a book, James and Peter went to a table and started playing a game of wizards chess, Sirius ran upstairs to their dorm and jumped in the shower. They had not a moment to lose because only minutes later McGonagall stormed in.

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?" She shouted. All of the students in the common room sat upright and turned to look at the professor. Sirius walked downstairs, hair still wet from the hastened shower, and pulled the most confused look he could. Peter stood up from the table and walked towards McGonagall.

"I'm sorry, what's the issue professor?" He said innocently.

"Oh I'm quite sure you know what's going on Mister Pettigrew," she said severely. She suddenly noticed the presence of Sirius. "Mister Black!!" Sirius snapped his head up and made eye contact with her.

"Yes Professor?" Sirius said sweetly.

"I assume you are responsible for this tomfoolery"

"I have no idea what you mean by that Professor" Sirius was lying of course, but he put on a fine show.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew. My office. NOW." She kept her loud tone throughout her tirade. By now, the boys knew there was no chance in keeping their little lie going to they resorted to reason.

"But professor, it's after-hours"

"And thank you for that update on the time, Mister Lupin," the sarcasm was present in her voice. "I am well aware of the time, but my previous statement still stands, follow me." Sighing quietly, the boys followed in line out of the Gryffindor common room. The hallways were dimly lit due to the hour in which they were caught, their only source of light was a Lumos charm cast by the professor. They walked along the corridors and to Minerva's office. Once they'd arrived they took their place standing around the edge of her desk as she sat down with her hands on her temples. 

"It seems to always be you for causing trouble." She states exasperatedly. "I figured after your previous prank in October that you would've learned your lesson, but it appears that is not the case. What do you have to say for yourselves?" The boys looked at each other quietly anticipating who would speak first. To their dismay, it was Sirius who decided to interject.

"They had it coming." He said nearly deadpan. With those four words their fate had been sealed, they wouldn't be getting out of this one easily. Remus kicked Sirius from behind the desk. "Ouch" Sirius muttered under his breath.

Remus gave him a pointed look, "Seriously, mate" Sirius cursed Remus under his breath and turned to look at McGonagall again. Her expression was somewhat of a mix between exasperated and livid.

"2 weeks detention and 50 points will be taken from Gryffindor for each of you" She states finally.

"But professor—" James started but stopped immediately after receiving a hit to the back of his head from Remus and a glare from McGonagall. "Yes professor," he says instead. The rest of the boys also offer murmurs of agreement.

"You may go," McGonagall concludes "You better be going straight back to your dormitory."

"Yes, of course, thank you professor" Remus spoke on behalf of the others, not trusting them to say something they wouldn't regret, and steered them out of the room quickly.

It was pitch black in the corridor so each of them cast a Lumos charm so they could see as the made their way back to the Gryffindor tower. After a few wrong turns the boys finally decided to stop in the corridor and regroup.

"Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know Remus, it James' fault, he shouldn't be leading."

"Shove off Sirius, you would've gotten us lost too"

Amidst the quarreling, Peter piped in, "Would you all just shut up and stop fighting!" The other three stopped in their tracks and looked at the younger, shorter boy in shock.

"Didn't think you had it in you, mate" James said referring to Peter's outburst.

"Me either," Remus added, "But he's right, we need to get back to the tower before Filch finds us."

"Second that," James chuckles dryly "So where are we?" They all start looking around for some sort of marker to show what floor they were on.

After ten minutes Remus shouted, "I think I found something" Peter, Sirius, and James all simultaneously shushed him. "Sorry," he said whispering "Come over here" They all joined Remus to see what he was talking about he pointed towards the entrance to the hospital wing. "If that's the hospital wing, then we must be on the fourth floor."

"Okay, so let's go we can't waste any more time," Peter says.

"Very true, it is past Peter's bedtime," Sirius says, in a mocking tone, laughing at his own joke.

"Shut up Sirius," Remus said shaking his head, but lightly giggling anyways. The rest of the journey to the Gryffindor Tower was mostly in silence until they reached the portrait of the fat lady. They muttered the password once more and went up to their dorm. Sirius flopped back onto his bed.

"God, this place needs a map."


	10. Birthday

Things had settled down at Hogwarts since the big Halloween prank. The weather had turned rather cool and pleasant and the leaves had begun to turn lovely shades of amber and russet before falling to the ground. Along with the weather changes astronomy had become a much more interesting class. With the newly clear constellations, every midnight class they had were spent with the kids glued to the telescopes looking at the breathtaking stars from the top of the astronomy tower.

The month of November also contained a certain Marauder's birthday, but no one seemed to be aware of this. In fact, none of the Marauders knew about Sirius' birthday until they were in the hallway after flying lessons.

The Marauders were standing on a staircase that was in the process of moving. Since the stairs were not finished readjusting, there was a gap between two stair platforms. The four boys were crowded by the edge, Sirius was chanting "JUMP JUMP JUMP" at a very eager looking James, while Remus shook his head chuckling dryly at the insane antics of the two boys next to him. Peter was laughing a little nervously, no doubt worried that some actual harm would befall James if he were to go through with the ridiculous plan.

The plan, however, was not given the opportunity to unfold because Professor McGonagall turned up right behind them. "Absolutely not!! Your birthday will not excuse you from detention Mister Black!!" Everybody stopped in their tracks and whipped around to face the professor. James' mouth was agape as he looked at his best friend.

"It's your birthday?" James explained, shocked by the recent information. "Why wouldn't you tell us?" Sirius lifted his gaze to look at his friends and then McGonagall.

"I- uh- yeah" Sirius answered, he seemed almost uncertain if he wanted to disclose the information. Not wishing to look at the shocked expressions on the faces of his dorm mates any longer, Sirius ran off. Abandoning any ideas of getting into some mischief, the remaining three boys murmured quick apologizes to the professor before splitting up to look for their friend. Remus had already checked around the courtyard before finding Sirius lying down next to the Great Lake looking up at the stars. He walked over and lied down in the grass next to his friend. After a few moments of silence Sirius spoke up, "You see that star right there," he gestured upwards "the brightest one in that little grouping of stars." Remus followed the others' gaze and looked at the star and nodded. "That constellation is the Canis Major and that star," He pointed back at the bright star "is Sirius, just like my name."

"That's lovely, Sirius, but why-" Sirius cut him off.

"Why did I lie about my birthday? I figured you'd ask." Sirius finished and all was silent as Remus paused.

"Well, why did you?" Remus finally asked.

"I don't know, I just don't really celebrate my birthday, it's not really important. I mean in my house your birthday doesn't mean anything and I guess my parents are right, I mean why celebrate something as silly as getting older. Why should my people spend extra money on someone like me? They never put any thought into my feelings the other 364 days so why would November 3rd be any different?" Sirius' voice was devoid of emotion, his whole rant about his birthday. It was evident that his parent's stance on the matter had been drilled into his brain.

"You can't honestly think that! Of course, you deserve to celebrate your birthday, I have no clue why your parents wouldn't want to celebrate your birthday-" Remus was cut off.

"Would you want to celebrate the worst day of your life? The day a burden was placed on you." Sirius tone turned bitter, he said the words as if he'd heard them a thousand times.

Remus sat up, "Sirius, I- I had no clue things were so rough at your home." His voice was cracking.

"It's fine, how could you have known. But it's alright things aren't all that bad." Remus didn't look convinced by this so Sirius continued. "I swear it's really not too bad."

"Alright, if you say so mate," Remus scratched the back of his neck "We should go, we're late for dinner."

"Yeah," the boys stood up and began their walk back to the castle. "Oh, and Remus?" the other boy turned and made eye contact with Sirius. "Thanks"

"Of course, I'm always here if you need to talk." The rest of the walk was silent. The boys made it to the Great Hall with only thirty minutes left for the meal. Peter and James greeted them when they sat.

"Happy Birthday Sirius!" Peter said when the two boys had settled into their seats.

"Yeah happy birthday, mate!" James added. Sirius paused before looking at Remus and smiling.

"Thanks you guys, it means a lot."


	11. Bullies

It was early Wednesday and the Gryffindors and Slytherins were all in the dungeons listening to Professor Slughorn go on a particularly enthusiastic rant about the many uses of Dittany. One, in particular, was in the Wiggenweld Potion which they would be brewing in that class period.

"Please pair up with your tablemates and begin. One of you should collect ingredients whilst the other prepares the cauldron." Professor Slughorn stated before retreating to his desk until further notice.

James was sitting with Sirius, as was custom considering how close they were and how much they talked in class. Which in full truth, was an obscene amount accumulating them several detentions per month. In potions, however, they tended to steer clear of trouble because Slughorn had a generally oblivious and kind-hearted disposition. Even if he had to lecture them once or twice, chances are the man would never hand detention out in class.

James and Sirius liked to take advantage of Slughorn in this way and took potions class as a time to taunt Severus. This class, for example, they had a plan prepared. Throughout the next hour, the boys were planning to pull a bunch of small pranks on the greasy-haired boy to really get under his skin. It started off small, James tripping Severus on his way back to his cauldron, causing him to spill his vial of Sloth Brain Mucus on his robes. That one passed as an accident. The second time was still bordering the line of just being mildly annoying. Sirius hid the Boom Berry Juice so when Severus tried to find it, he spent several minutes struggling and looking around. Of course, that one passed as being a coincidence. It was not a coincidence, however, when Sirius put a few extra drops of Honeywater into Snape's cauldron. At this point, it was blatantly obvious to not only Severus but to Lily as well, what the two boys were doing. It was at that point that James decided to "accidentally" turn the heat up on Severus' cauldron causing it to explode when Snape finally snapped.

He was practically fuming when he shouted, "Would you two just shove off!" James and Sirius snickered in response.

"But we're having so much fun" James taunted.

"Why ruin our fun, Snivellus?" Sirius added in the same mocking tone as James, using the cruel nickname that never failed to get under Snape's skin. In fact, Severus was so mad that he was about to utter a hex before Lily grabbed his arm.

"Sev! Calm down!" she whispered so only he could hear. "I don't want you to get in trouble." her tone was even quieter because she didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention. Seemingly, following her orders, Snape took a deep breath and put his wand away. He scowled at James and Sirius before going back to his cauldron to restart the potion. Satisfied with the way things were now, Lily went back to her own cauldron to talk with Marlene.

That wasn't the end for this class period because even a hex wouldn't sway the plans of the two scheming Gryffindors. For the rest of Potions, they muttered insults at Snape when they walked passed. By the time class was nearing its end, Snape looked as if he could kill someone. He stood, making his way over towards the Gryffindor boys when Professor Slughorn finally looked up.

"Alright, class! I am going to be walking around and checking the accuracy of your potions and then you may all clean up." he proclaimed in his normal cheery voice. Snape retreated back to his table, knowing better than to take action while the teacher was watching. The remaining minutes of the class went off without an issue and when the bell finally rang. The marauders quickly left the classroom laughing about their shenanigans and already planning their next attack.

It was only 10:15 and the other first-years already knew today would be full of trouble. All had been normal until nearly three hours later when the Gryffindor first years were on their way to History of Magic. Professor Binns made History of Magic as boring as he could and had a zero-tolerance for kids not listening in class. Naturally, this meant he always had a wary eye watching the Gryffindor Boys. Much like their lesson this morning, things started small before escalating into a disastrous avalanche of mischief. The four boys were sitting at two different tables right next to each other. The lesson today was about the Soap Blizzard of 1378, which was in no way the most boring thing that you could learn, but even that was not enough to keep the rowdy boys at bay. At first, they were just whispering to each other, but eventually, they were talking and laughing so much that nobody could hear Professor Binns.

"So it was after this event that the wizarding economic bubble was boosted so much that-" Professor Binns stopped mid-sentence and sighed. "Black, Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew! Separate. Now." After that, James whispered something to Sirius next to him who nodded and seemingly passed this information onto Remus and Peter before quickly separating to four separate tables. It took only a few minutes before the boys started communicating again. This time, they used exaggerated hand motions, facial expressions, and mouthed the words to try to get the other boys to understand. Of course, this was extremely distracting to the rest of the class and they received many glares from other classmates. Only a few minutes of these hand motions were tolerated until Professor Binns stopped his lecture once again. "Boys, these hand motions better come to a stop. I don't even want to see your hands move for the rest of the class period!"

In response to this warning, the four boys made eye-contact, nodded, and placed their hands flat on the table in front of them. Seemingly satisfied with this, Professor Binns returned to his lesson. It had not been ten minutes before James broke the boys' silence.

"OI SIRIUS DO YOU THINK THEY'LL HAVE ROAST AT DINNER TODAY" James shouted across the classroom to Sirius.

"HMMM, I DUNNO, MATE. THEY HAD IT YESTERDAY" Sirius replied.

"NO, IT WAS MONDAY THAT WE HAD ROAST, LAST NIGHT WE HAD SHEPHERD'S PIE" Remus interjected.

"OH YEAH," James yelled turning to look at Remus "YOU'RE RIGHT. WHAT DO YOU THINK PETER?"

Peter never got the chance to reply because Professor Binns finally stepped in.

"BOYS! What in God's name do you think you are doing?" He said in a stern voice.

"We stopped moving our hands just like you asked," James said.

"Yeah, I don't see what the issue is, Professor." Sirius quipped. Remus laughed at the horrible angry face the professor made, but his smile fell pretty quickly when Professor Binns finally responded.

"50 points from Gryffindor from each of you, and a weeks detention." A collective groan was heard across the classroom. With these point deductions, Gryffindor was sure to move from second to third place, meaning Slytherin would be ahead. The boys responded with a quick 'Yes Sir' and were quiet for the rest of the class. Each of the girls took turns rolling their eyes or shaking their heads at the boys. This was not the first time they had cost Gryffindor point and they all knew it was far from the last.

Class ended and the four boys received a great lecture after class which in turn made them late for Charms which earned them another detention. Of course, receiving eight detentions each did not make them learn their lesson. On the contrary, the boys continued to cause trouble and after their very unfortunate flying lesson, Sirius and James had ten detentions each and Remus and Peter had nine and eight respectively.

The boys walked late to dinner after a great lecture on why to not goof off while flying and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Ironically enough, they did have a roast for dinner.


	12. Detention

It had been exactly a week since the boys had received all of their detentions. They had all served six days in detention so far and today was their seventh. After dinner, the boys walked together down the hall to the History of Magic classroom. Depending on who gave you the detention, how you served it could vary. If you got in trouble with Slughorn, you would do busywork; if you were in trouble with Madam Hooch, you would work on the quidditch field; and if you got in trouble with Professor Sprout, you would tend to plants. Much like his class, detentions with Professor Binns were boring and felt like they lasted forever. Every single detention without fail consisted of the offender writing the whole time. Whether it was writing lines or writing an essay, your hand would ache by the end.

Today, Binns' poison of choice was writing lines. They were to write 'I will not disrupt my class' 100 times. This was the seventh day in a row that the boys had this assignment. The sentence never changed and neither did Professor Binns' blank mundane expression. The boys took their seats, not even bothering to sit close because they knew any attempts at talking would be futile. They pulled out their pieces of parchment as well as their quills and ink and began. Time stretched on and on and it seemed that this detention would never end. James was on his 63rd line when he dropped his quill and gasped. This got the attention of not only the other three boys but also the teacher.

"Something you would like to share with the rest of us, Mister Potter?" Professor Binns asked.

James was shaking his hand around like a maniac "Hand cramp, Sir" James' voice was strained.

Professor Binns sighed, "If we could keep the theatrics to a minimum, I think we'd all be better off. Back to work! All of you." He turned his gaze back to the book he was reading. After a few glances to James, the other three turned back to their work. A short while later, Peter stood up and handed his work to Professor Binns who looked over it for a minute and then dismissed him. Next was Sirius who strutted up to the Professor's desk and handed in his parchment, he already had a foot out the door when Binns dismissed him. Mere seconds after Sirius stepped out of the class, Remus completed the assignment. After his dismissal, he jogged to catch up with Sirius so he didn't have to walk alone. This left just James to finish his work.

It took about a minute for Remus to round the corner and spot Sirius down the hall. "Hey! Sirius! Wait up!" Sirius stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Remus with a smile. Remus sped up and got next to Sirius as they continued walking. They walked in comfortable silence for a while and then chatted casually before Sirius stopped himself mid-sentence with a thought.

"Why don't we take that passageway that leads up to the 7th floor, it would be quicker."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, it's already really late," Remus said. As if on cue the clock began to chime. It sounded off eleven times to show that it was now 11 o'clock.

"Shit" Sirius muttered

"How's it already eleven?" Remus exclaimed.

"I dunno, mate," Sirius said, he jerked his head in the direction of the secret passageway. "Let's go" Remus wasted no time and they both made their way to the entrance to the passage. They crawled into the passage. It was bigger than some of the other passageways. They could stand up straight with about 4 inches above their heads, and the two boys were able to walk side by side as the passage was wide enough. However, it was only just, the boys were quite close together, even touching at the shoulders as they made their way down the passage. To add to this experience, it was exceedingly dark and their only source of light was the Lumos charm cast by Sirius. The boys chatted casually as they walked up to the seventh floor. As they reached the end of the tunnel they emerged out into the empty corridor. As they made their way to the Fat Lady portrait they continued talking in hushed whispers.

"Cauti Noctis," Remus says to the picture. Accepting the password, the portrait swung open, but not without a disapproving glare from the Fat Lady, she was muttering to herself about how the boys were late and disrupting her beauty sleep. The boys ignored her comments and instead crawled through the portrait hole and into the common room. The boys descended the stairs and went into their dorm.

"Where the bloody hell have you two been?" James asked walking over to the duo.

"We came from detention, how'd you beat us?" Remus answered

"What hallway did you take, I left at least five minutes after you"

"We went through the secret passageway, thought it'd be quicker," Sirius said.

"Well you were wrong," James said chuckling.

"You don't say" Sirius snapped back sarcastically, laughing along with James.

"Oh hush you two," Remus said already sitting on his bed. "Peter's asleep" Sure enough, the youngest marauder was asleep in his bed peacefully.

"Alright, alright" Sirius whispered, heeding Remus' statement "I should get ready for bed anyway," He said walking to the bathroom. James, already ready for bed elected to try and sleep and Remus was already busy reading one of his many books as he waited for Sirius to be done in the bathroom. Sirius took a quick shower and went to sleep pretty quickly, but Remus stayed awake. It wasn't until midnight when the boy finally got ready for bed and even then he was not quick to fall asleep. He wasn't quite sure what was keeping him up, but one thing was for sure, he'd have to run up to the infirmary tomorrow morning before anyone woke up.


	13. Secrets

After a short four hours of sleep, Remus woke up. The sun was not even up as he sat up in his bed. He looked around at the boys he shared a room with. Thankfully, they were all asleep, now all Remus had to do was keep it that way. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and extremely slowly placed his feet on the floor. He padded his way to the bathroom with his uniform in hand. After changing and sorting out his hair, he tiptoed over to the door and opened it, stepping out into the hallway, he closed the door in slow motion, to not make a sound. Satisfied with his stealth, he quickly, but quietly, bounded down the stairs and left the common room.

About an hour later, James woke up. He, ever the early riser, lept gracefully out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Upon his return, he was quite confused to realize that not everyone was in the room. Sirius was still asleep snoring softly and Peter was still snuggled in his covers fast asleep, but Remus was nowhere to be found. James walked down to the common room to look around, but after deciding that Remus was not there either, he went back upstairs. To bide his time until the other boys woke up, James decided to write a letter home. He had just begun on his second paragraph detailing the fascinating subjects he had been learning in Transfiguration when Remus walked in. James looked up and made eye-contact with Remus before pointing to the door to signal that they should leave the dorm. They both walked out and James finally spoke.

"I didn't want to wake Sirius or Peter, but where have you been?" James said.

"I- erm- I was..."

"And don't you even bother lying, Remus" James said sternly, but then he sighed. "I'm just worried" he stated in a softer tone.

"It's my mum" Remus said finally.

"Oh" James said with realization. "Is everything alright, she getting sicker."

"Yeah that's it, I was talking to Dumbledore about the next time I could visit her"

"I'm sorry, mate, if you need anything let me know. Okay?"

"Yeah, 'course. Thanks" Remus said sheepishly, looking down.

"Anytime" James said with a soft smile before turning to walk upstairs to the dorm. Remus sat there for a minute, his head in his hands. It is not that he liked lying to his friends, but it was his only choice. Shaking his head to clear himself of his thoughts, he stood and walked upstairs.

Unlike Remus, Sirius woke up particularly late this morning, he scratched the back of his head as he yawned. Hauling himself out of bed, Sirius went to the bathroom to get ready for the day, the other three boys had already left by the time Sirius awoke. He hurriedly threw on his uniform not even bothering to finish buttoning his shirt or tie his tie. Practically running, he made his way to the Great Hall to meet his friends. He arrived to breakfast out of breath and disheveled, James scooted over to gesture that he saved a seat. They all munched on their food they chatted about the upcoming Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw Quidditch game. The sound of screeching and fluttering alerted everyone to the arrival of the mail. As usual, James got a letter from his parents and Peter got a small parcel with some treats which his grams sometimes sent. The surprising part of today's mail delivery was when an owl swooped down to give Sirius a letter.

He had to check first, but his name was written, clear as day. Turning the letter over in his hand, he opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of parchment. He read the letter with a blank expression, but anyone who knew Sirius well could see that pain was etched in his face, from the subtle crease of his forehead to the dulling of his striking grey eyes. The other Marauders had realized by now that something was up. The look of pain was quickly replaced by anger and he pulled out his wand.

"Incendio" Sirius muttered angrily and the paper lit ablaze. In mere seconds the letter was reduced to ash and soon after Sirius left the table. Standing up James was eager to follow his friend and see what was wrong, but a hand grabbed his arm causing him to stop. Whipping his head around he looked at the hand on his arm and then up to his eyes. Remus shook his head slightly and nodded to the seat. Taking a breath, James followed the silent instructions and sat down.

"Let him cool off" Remus said quietly. "If he's not in charms I'll go talk to him"

"Yeah," James' head slumped a little. "You're probably right" Time passed far too quickly and soon enough, the bell had rung signaling their first class. Sirius had never rejoined them at breakfast. It was when everyone was seated in charms, with the exception of Sirius, that they knew something was wrong. Even the girls exchange worried glances over to the empty seat where Sirius would usually be sitting. Once the lesson started, the three Marauders looked visibly defeated. Raising his hand slowly, Remus waited anxiously to be called on.

"Yes Mister Lupin?" Flitwick paused. "Have you some wisdom to add?"

"No sir, sorry to interrupt, but I'm just not feeling well." Remus responded before exchanging knowing looks with the Professor.

"Very well" Flitwick said sighing. "You may go. Come back during your free hour today to pick up your work" Remus nodded thankfully and left shooting a glance to James before he left. He was down the hall pretty quickly in search of Sirius. First, the common room and dorm were scoured, Sirius was not there. Remus checked the library and behind some of the stairs. As he ran from hall to hall, floor to floor, he checked the empty classrooms. When he arrived on the fourth floor, he began to lose hope. As he jogged down the west corridor, he looked into each classroom. The end of the hall came too soon, it was the last classroom he could check before having to search outside. He heard rusling coming from the room, his heart quickened and his pace sped up. He peered into the classroom.

"MIster Lupin, what are you doing?" Dumbledore calmly stated. Despite the older man's peaceful disposition, Remus was petrified. He knew that one mistake could send him home, for good. His parents made sure he understood that.

"I'm sorry- I was just- I mean..." he trailed off. He had no idea how he was to explain this situation to the headmaster.

"Does your absence from class have something to do with Mister Blacks episode this morning?" The question wasn't accusatory, it was more of just a quizzical statement. Remus had no idea how Dumbledore would have known what was going on. He was so awestruck by the question that he only nodded meekly in response.

"Very well," nodded Dumbledore. "I admire your loyalty to your friend. May I mention that the Quidditch field looks quite beautiful at the moment."

"Excuse me, Professor?" Remus was confused.

"I'm just saying, might be worth it to check it out" Dumbledore said, everything clicked and realization crosses Remus' face.

"Thank you, sir" He had already begun rushing to get to the Quidditch pitch.

"Oh and Mister Lupin?" Remus stopped dead in his tracks, turning around and looking at the headmaster. "Please head back to class when you've found Mister Black"

"Yes, sir" Remus said and then he was gone. Running down each hallway, bounding down each staircase and not even tripping over grass as he made his way to the Quidditch pitch. He walked onto the turf and he could see Sirius from across the field, leaning against the stands picking at grass. He walked over to him.

"Hey" Remus said softly.

"Hey"

"We were worried about you, what happened?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to skip you know"

"That's a lie and we both know it"

"Oh yeah, if you're so clever then why do you think I'm out here." Sirius snapped. "Huh, what's your grand idea."

"I'm sorry, Sirius" Remus was visibly troubled, he did not know how to comfort his friend. Sirius face softened, he looked remorseful.

"Shit, Moony. I didn't mean to yell" Sirius started talking quickly. "It's just- well it doesn't matter- I shouldn't have gotten so mad. Fuck. I screwed up everything. You can just go back to class, I'm fine, I appreciate you coming out here, but I don't wanna upset you anymore and..."

"Shhhh" Remus cut him off. "Jesus, Sirius it's ok, I get it you're upset, just what happened."

"Nothing, it's nothing"

"It's clearly not nothing if you're this upset about it"

"I don't wanna talk about it ok!" Sirius was getting defensive.

"Fine, we don't have to talk about it, but can we at least go back to class, James and Peter are worried"

"Yeah," Sirius agreed "the bell is about to ring anyway. We can just join them on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Yeah, but let's hurry. Ulinzi will throw a fit if we're late" Remus chuckled. The boys walked all the way back to the castle and up to their class. Sitting with the other two Marauders, Sirius explained himself a little and all was said and done. It's not that Sirius liked keeping secrets from his friends, he honestly hated lying to them, but he couldn't tell them, they could never know.


	14. Cheering Up

It was December first, but winter was in full swing. It was a mere 3º C outside and everyone was keeping warm. A fire is always burning in the Gryffindor common room, and any cold foods were traded in for hot meals and drinks. The upperclassmen bundled themselves thickly before heading out for their Honeydukes trip. Although Remus was not heading out to brave the town, he was more bundled up than anyone, he was looking very sickly, today especially and no matter how many layers of clothes he put on, he was still shivering.

Remus let the boys know that he would be leaving for his monthly visit to see his mother tomorrow evening and the boys were trying everything to help. The days leading up to the visits as well as the following few days Remus would be quite disconsolate. They offered him sweets, particularly chocolate which was his favorite, and as much love and support as they could. Peter particularly tried to pitch in, offering games of wizard's chess and snacks he'd fixed doing his best to help Remus feel better. Despite their best efforts, he would always be a little sullen, but it was worth it for his friends to see the small smile that Remus displayed at their antics. The boys assumed their teachers must have known about Remus' mother as well, or maybe they just noticed how weak he seemed, because they tended to be a little less hard on him.

This was particularly evident when Remus said he felt ill and Madame Hooch allowed him to skip flying lessons for that day. He nodded sheepishly and walked up to the castle to seclude himself up in the library. He had gotten through about half of the play Hélas, Je me suis Transfiguré Les Pieds when Peter walked into the library and sat next to him. Marking the page with a bookmark, Remus set down the book to give his attention to his friend.

"James and Sirius are on their way by now I'm sure." Peter laughed quietly, "Sirius just tried to seduce a house-elf to get you some chocolate, so I'd eat it if I were you."

Remus chuckled shaking his head. "Of course he did, he could probably charm his way out of Azkaban." Peter laughed extremely loud, earning a stern hush from Madam Pince, the library. Both boys quieted and mouthed a silent "sorry" to the librarian before continuing their discussion in hushed voices.

"So why'd you skip out on flying lessons today?" Peter asked with concern for his friend.

"I dunno just wasn't feeling well. Wouldn't want to throw up while in the air, besides I'm not very into flying, not like James and Sirius, those boys live and breathe Quidditch."

"You're not wrong" Peter agreed, he hardly ever disagreed with people though. "Next year we might never see them, I'm sure they'll be practicing all the time when they make the team."

"If they make the team," Remus quipped, "but you're probably right, they are quite talented." Almost as if they had been summoned by the others talking about them, the two quidditch lovers busted into the library, making quite a ruckus in the process, and nearly barrelled poor Helaina, a small Hufflepuff student in their year, whilst on their mission to cheer up Remus.

Giggling at the insanity of their friends, Remus and Peter received a glare from Madam Pince, but that was nothing in comparison to the murderous look she gave Sirius and James after the pandemonium they had just caused. Muttering a quick apology to both Helaina and Madam Pince, they cautiously continued their walk towards the stud table Remus and Peter were sitting at. Sitting down Sirius pulled chocolates from a pocket in his robes, no doubt in the most suspicious way possible—not that there was really any way to pull something from the inside of your robes, slide it across the table to your friend, and not look suspicious—giving a classic Sirius Black smirk. Taking the chocolate bar off the table, Remus smiled.

"Thanks you guys," he said, "You didn't need to do that for me."

"'Course we did," James interjected, "If you're not feeling well, we're gonna try to help however we can."

Sirius nearly cackled, "Good god, mate! You sound like you're his mother..." he paused, probably dwelling on the thought of Remus' mother for a second. "Sorry." He finished quietly.

"Don't worry about it," Remus said in complete sincerity. Then suddenly a thought dawned upon him, he glanced around, no one was in the library. "Guys, I think we're late for dinner."

"Oh, shit!" James exclaimed.

"Language!" Madam Pince snapped, looking like she would press the issue further, the boys quickly got up and left. Nearing the door, Remus realized that he was still holding the play he was reading.

"Wait!" he said, before turning to look at the librarian. "Do you mind if I borrow this book? It's Hélas, Je me suis Transfiguré Les Pieds."

"Very well, have it returned by no later than the fifteenth." She said in a firm voice.

"Thank you" and with that, the boys actually left and started booking it down the stairs. They eventually made it down to the Great Hall, 30 minutes late for dinner and panting, but they made it. They took their seats and Lily Evans turned to them.

"Good Lord what happened to you four?" she laughed.

Marlene McKinnon also turned to laugh. "Honestly, thought you were more fit Sirius." She joked poking her friend in the gut.

"Remus I thought you weren't feeling well," Lily said concerned, "What are you doing running around with your idiotic dorm mates?"

"I'm fine, Lily, just a little under the weather, my legs, however, are still fully functional." He said dismissing his friend. "I started reading that play you recommended, by the way." Remus pulled out the book and the two were completely lost in conversation as they talked about the different reading they had been doing. On the other side of the table, Marlene and Sirius were chatting, or rather gossiping about all the things going on around the castle. Knowing full well that neither of the other boys would be ceasing their conversation any time soon, Peter and James began a discussion about Wizards Chess, they often liked to share strategies, which made their matches quite interesting seeing as they knew all of each others' tricks.

The next day, in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Remus looked more sickly than ever. Just as Professor Ulinzi had begun his lecture on the different ways to cure werewolf bites, Remus put his head down. Either Ulinzi did not notice, or he chose to ignore it because he didn't comment. The class dragged on and Remus showed no signs of paying attention. James had tapped him to make sure he was okay and only then had Remus looked up and muttered, "I'm fine, just tired." This put the boys at ease but did not make them feel any better.

"And remember that a mixture of powdered silver and dittany is an effective way to treat the bite, but is not the only method available-" Professor Ulinzi's sentence was cut off by the bell. "Okay class, we will continue this lesson tomorrow when we meet again. You are dismissed."

Remus grabbed his bag and hurried out of the classroom, showing more energy than he had in the past hour. He did not talk much for the rest of the day and did not even tell the boys before he left campus that night. They did not press it, they would just have to talk to him when he got back.


	15. What's Going On

Rain fell down in heavy sheets as the boys trudged up to the Astronomy Tower and the group was shivering despite being wrapped up in their sweaters, scarves, gloves, and hats. Being a mere 7º C outside, the boys were absolutely miserable, it was days like this that the students wish it was snowing, but unfortunately, it was just wet and freezing. Ascending up the stairs, the boys felt like the tower couldn't possibly be any taller, as they reached the last few steps, they were met with the harsh cold of the open Astronomy Tower. It was 11:45, and they were 15 minutes early for their midnight Astronomy class due to Remus' incessant nagging to ensure they weren't late. On the positive side, Remus got his wish and no one would be receiving detention for tardiness, however, on the negative side, the boy would have to stand in the freezing cold weather longer than necessary. With the wind picking up and the temperature not budging an inch, even Remus was regretting their early arrival.

"I'm freezing my arse off up here," Sirius grumbled. "Hope you're happy Remus"

"We might've left a tad bit early" Remus admits guiltily.

"A tad?" James stated incredulously "If we'd left an earlier it would still be light out."

"Think you're being a little dramatic, James" Remus snorted.

"Whatever, mate." James laughed. "But you can't deny that you aren't freezing too."

"Of course I am! It's bloody seven degrees out here!"

"Will you two stop bickering," Sirius cut in. "We need to grab a telescope before everyone else gets here or we'll have no chance of getting our homework right."

"Not that you do your homework," James muttered, laughing.

"Oh, and you're so much better?" Sirius snapped back. "You haven't turned in work since the first week of class."

"That's not true!" James defended.

"Yeah, c' mon, Sirius. That's not true" Remus agreed. "He made it to the second week at least." Both Remus and Sirius busted out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. After a minute even James joined in. Calming down, the boys heeded Sirius' advice and found a telescope. They walked over and waited for class to start.

The lesson that day was particularly boring. The entire class period was dedicated to just looking at the star patterns they could see and the assignment that was given was to write ten inches about the change in patterns they had seen in the past month. This was not a strenuous task, but that didn't stop the boys' complaints. Back in the common room, the boys—which was really just Sirius and James— were still whining about the essay until nearly two in the morning, much to Remus and Peter's dismay.

"Would you give it a rest you two?" Remus sighed. "You can complain until you're blue in the face, but it won't do you any good"

"You have a whole week too" Peter piped in. "So you don't have to worry about it that much." Despite their undying need to 'protest the unfair burden that is their schoolwork', it appeared the boys were going to let the matter rest for now.

"Alright, it is late anyway." James relented.

"More like early" Remus muttered without the others hearing, but then spoke up in appreciation for the boys finally being quiet. "Thank you, and goodnight."

"Goodnight" The rest of his dorm mates responded and with that, finally, all was quiet in the dorm.

The next morning, all of Hogwarts was in the Great Hall for breakfast. As the students munched on their breakfast, the flurry of owls came in to deliver mail. A letter arrived for James from his parents, a parcel of treats for Peter from his mother, and the newspaper arrived for Sirius. It was a habit for Sirius to read through much of the Daily Prophet every morning at breakfast. James reckoned that Sirius was turning into a crotchety old man already, but Sirius could not help his interest in the happenings of the wizarding world. Today, he was especially displeased with the news and it was apparent by his facial expression.

With a piece of toast still in his mouth, James began to talk "What's wrong, you'd think somebody died by looking at your face" Although it sounded more like incoherent mumbling because his mouth was full.

"Gross, James" Remus said in disgust "Don't talk with your mouth full"

"Yeah, seriously," Sirius said. "No one wants to see that."

Swallowing his food, James grinned at the two. "Happy Now?" They nodded in response. "Back to my question, what's going on in the news that's got your panties all in a twist."

"You're hilarious," Sirius said sarcastically, "It's quidditch"

James groaned. All four Gryffindor boys had expressed disdain for the newly appointed International Director of the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee. "What's he said this time?"

"He said 'The only thing I dislike about Quidditch is the crowds'"

"Are you kidding me!" James exclaimed. It was essentially chaos at the boy's section of the table. It got so rowdy that Lily went over to investigate.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Have you read the paper today, Evans?" Sirius asked.

"Oh yeah, about the supposedly corrupt member of the ministry, I think-" She was cut off.

"No Lily! About Quidditch" James shouted as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," She said confused. "I'm not sure I read that article" This was met with more outrage from Sirius and James.

"Honestly, I wouldn't bother with them" Remus laughed. "They're hopeless once Quidditch is involved. But if you want to read it then here" He finished handing her the newspaper.

"Sure, Remus," She said happily taking the paper. "Good luck with those two, I'm sure you'll need it" Turning back to the table Remus did his best to mediate the conversation to no avail. The boys got even louder and eventually got the attention of Professor McGonagall.

"Boys! What seems to be the issue over here?" She asked. Immediately the James and Sirius started ranting about the paper and Royston Idlewind's statement. "Will you two be quiet for a minute. I swear all of your yelling can be heard from Hogsmeade." the boys paused at her command, but the fire remained in their eyes. "I'm not sure what you think all of your yelling will accomplish, but like it or not Mister Idlewind has been appointed as the International Director and you can't change that, you are merely students. So please for the love of Merlin, be quiet and eat your breakfast"

"Yes Professor" They grumbled before taking their seats, they knew arguing would only land them in detention.

"Good." She said. "I will see you four in class." On that note, she walked back to the teachers' table.

"Oh, but who is she to judge us simply because we're students," Sirius said. "We still have opinions"


	16. Christmas

Now that Christmas was fast approaching, most students were headed home for Winter Break. After class finished on the seventeenth, Peter was already happily stuffing his clothes in his trunk. He was more than excited to be going home to see his family for the holidays. James, despite being eager to see his family, was quite the procrastinator and had not yet started packing. After Peter was finished preparing his luggage for the trip home, he went to join the rest of his friends in the common room. Remus was reading and James and Sirius were in a lighthearted discussion when Peter walked into the room.

He was a very shy person, he lacked the courage that was a staple for all Gryffindors. He was surprised by his sorting but was happy to be among some of the bravest wizards his age. In this instance, his timidness prevented him from striking up a conversation with the three others. In fact, it wasn't until James spoke out to their whole group that anyone even really acknowledged Peter's presence.

"Since we will all be apart for the break, we should have one last prank before the train leaves tomorrow"

"It's a tad bit late to plan something for tonight, don't ya think?" Sirius asked.

"Not if we start now" James argued.

"Fine, nothing too crazy" Remus sighed, "I'd like to be allowed back after the break."

"Moony, you wound me. How dare you insinuate that we would get caught" Sirius feigned being offended, but it was clear that he was just being his usual overdramatic self.

"Of course, because we've never gotten caught" Remus sarcastically added, rolling his eyes. They all laughed, only a handful of times had they managed to scathe by without punishment after a prank. They sat on the couches surrounding the fire as they deliberated what their options were for the prank. Eventually, they had come up with their plan.

With an hour left before they were expected at dinner, they made sure everything was planned perfectly, but they were in a big rush to gather the necessary equipment to enact the prank. To get everything, they would have to go to Hogsmeade. To most, leaving campus presented unique challenges, but the ever-curious Marauders had a few tricks up their sleeves. They made their way down to the third-floor corridor.

Stopping at the statue of the one-eyed, hump-backed witch– the witch's name was actually Gunhilda of Gorsemoor, but no students knew nor cared about that fact –and stopped to see that the coast was clear. Positive that no one was around, James tapped the witch and muttered 'Dissendium' revealing the secret passageway.

Clambering in hurriedly, they closed the entrance and started the journey to Hogsmeade. After their 15 minute journey, which was normally 20, they emerged in the Honeydukes cellar. Lucky for the boys, the sweets shop was always busy and one could easily slip into the crowd and go unnoticed. They walked quickly, wrapping their robes tighter around them to make sure no one saw their uniforms, attempting to make it to Zonko's as soon as they could.

Once inside the store, they split up to look for what they needed. In a few short minutes, Sirius emerged with a handful of Dungbombs. The boys had a quick celebratory moment before quickly paying and going back into the street. Running back into Honeydukes, down into the cellar, clambering into the passageway and hurrying on the way back to the castle.

Fortunately, when they exited the passageway into the corridor back at school, they found it deserted. Practically running, they went back to their dorm to act casual as they waited out the remaining minutes before lunch.

A few minutes early, for probably the first and last time, the boys walked towards the Great Hall. Spotting Severus from across the corridor, James kicked Sirius in the shins to get his attention.

"Ouch, what the hell, James?" Sirius cursed under his breath.

Nodding up to where Snape was, James whispered, "It's Snivellus, now's the time" agreeing quickly, Sirius sped up making a beeline for Severus. Ramming right into him, Sirius dropped the dungbombs into Snape's bag.

"Watch out Snivellus" Sirius sneered, walking back to join the rest of the boys, laughing. James and Sirius high-fived and walked into the Great Hall. Severus, none the wiser, glared at the boys as they walked away, assuming they were just being their usual pompous selves. Finding Lily, he himself walked alongside her, forgetting about the Marauders as he sat down at the Slytherin table.

About halfway through dinner, James and Remus exchanged glances, now was the time. Almost silently, Remus muttered the incantation to get the dungbombs out of the bag and slammed into Severus' face. The impact of the hit set the bomb off, causing it to explode in Snape's face.

Snickers could be heard across the hall, it was distracting enough that even the ever so oblivious teachers lent their attention to the situation. Standing up from the teachers' table, Professor Slughorn made his way towards the Slytherin table, being the head of the house, this was going to be partly his responsibility. In addition to him, McGonagall stood walking directly towards the boys. In her mind, there was only one person –or in this case group of people– who could be responsible. Reaching their table, the Professor cleared her throat snapping the boys out of their laughter as they turned to look at her.

"Have you anything to say for yourselves," McGonagall said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about professor," James said, feigning confusion.

"I think you know exactly what I am talking about" She responded sharply.

"I can't believe you don't trust us!" Sirius faked gasped. "What could we have possibly done to break your trust?" The sarcasm in Sirius' tone was not going to do him any favours if they were getting detention, but that thought didn't deter him.

"Show me your hands, all four of you." The boys knew what she was up to, anyone who touched a dung bomb, let alone threw one, would get their hands dirty. Little did she know, the boys had thought of this in advance.

Sirius, who is the only one who had to physically touch the dung bomb for this plan to work, had grabbed them with his robes covering his hand, meaning his hands had stayed clean. They also did not throw the bomb but rather used a spell, Remus' hand's stayed clean too. Smirking, all four boys showed their hands to McGonagall, enjoying the confusion on her face.

"It appears that I might have jumped to conclusions," McGonagall stated. "However, if I find out that you four are responsible, there will be consequences"

"Of course, Professor" Remus said sweetly, "We understand." Seemingly satisfied, McGonagall turned and left the boys alone. By now dinner was winding down and some kids had already headed back up to their dorms, the marauders following suit.

Realizing they should have packed earlier, James and Sirius rushed about shoving clothes in their trunks. Remus was reading quietly in his bed, amused at the boys' antics, knowing that had they only listened to him earlier when he told them to pack, they wouldn't be in this predicament.

It was not until around two in the morning that the boys had finally finished packing, and getting ready for bed, by then their other two dorm mates had already gone to sleep, very quietly they shuffled over to their beds and talked for a little while.

The next morning, the boys got on the train to go back to London, chatting away during the ride talking about the holidays. At the platform, the boys climbed off together looking around for their parents, Peter saw his first, running over and hugging them, waving goodbye to his friends quickly as he got whisked away. Remus saw his parents next, walking towards them, smiling to his friends before leaving.

James and Sirius were left on the platform, in a sea of students and parents, looking around. Sirius was quite fidgety as he glanced around nervously, in a few minutes, he paled a little bit rushing off into the crowd, not even saying goodbye to James.

Only looking hurt for a second, James recovered, dismissing Sirius' strange behaviour and resumed his search for his parents. As the platform cleared out a little bit, James spotted his parents. Rushing over towards them, James was engulfed in a big hug from his parents. Smiling wide, he left Kings Cross Station in pursuit of home.

The Potter family holidays were nearly picture-perfect. They had their fair share of traditions, one very important one was that everyone had to be home before they put the star on top of the tree. So naturally, now with James home, they could properly finish the tree.

James had only been home for two days when he started to miss his friends. His wistful thoughts led him to his desk where he started writing letters. First, to Sirius, quite a lengthy draft talking about Quidditch, the holidays, school, and other random things, it was clear from this letter that James was a rambler and he could go on for a while. Finishing the letter, James moved to write to Peter, talking about new sweets and what he hoped to get for Christmas, rambling about Wizards Chess, and his aspirations to finally beat his dad in a match. Lastly, James wrote to Remus, wishing him a happy holiday and sending love for his mother in the hopes she would feel well, talking about books he had around the house that he thought Remus would love.

Each letter was completely unique, just like his friends, he was never much of a writer– any of his teachers can attest– but when it came to his friends, there was no stopping him. Completing all three letters, he sent the family owl off, anxiously awaiting a response from each of his friends.

A few days had passed and it was Christmas Eve, James was sitting at the dinner table when an owl swooped down to the window.

"That'll probably be Sirius," James said. "Can I go and read it?"

"May I?" Mrs Potter corrected, smiling.

"Mum!!" James whined.

"I'm only joking, of course, you can," She laughed along with her husband. "Don't take too long, wouldn't want to miss presents." Nodding in agreement, James rushed to the window to fetch the letter, heading to his room he opened the roll of parchment.

Seeing the handwriting, James realized it was another letter Remus, and not Sirius. James was not disappointed to hear from Remus, they had been exchanging letters throughout the break, but Sirius had not responded to his letter even though it had been nearly a week.

Ignoring that for the moment, James wrote out his response to Remus. Deciding to also send another to Sirius, in case the first letter had gotten lost. Sending those letters off, James rejoined his parents in the living room.

Another Potter family tradition was that on Christmas Eve, you were allowed to open one of your presents. This was easily one of James' favourite traditions. He sat down on the soft carpet next to the tree, bouncing with excitement, he grabbed the largest present of his, a technique he used every year because in his mind bigger meant it was probably cooler. When he opened the box, he was a little concerned to see another box inside of it, opening that one was another box.

Thankfully for James, that was the last box, he opened the third box and saw shining shimmery cloth, that almost flecked gold when the light caught it. Confused, he pulled the item out, inspecting the strange material that almost seemed fluid.

"What is this?" James said, looking up to his parents with a puzzled look.

"That is an invisibility cloak," Mr Potter said matter-of-factly. "My father gave it to me my first year at Hogwarts, just like his father before him, so I thought it was about time to pass it on to you" he finished with a smile. James' face lit up, not only was he thrilled that his dad wanted to pass it on to him.

"Thanks, dad!" James said jumping up and trying on the cloak and watching in amazement when he could no longer see his body.

"Just don't go getting into too much trouble" Mr. Potter responded laughing "If you cause half as much chaos there as you do at home, then Dumbledore is in trouble" Mrs. Potter joined in laughing and James rushed off to his room to brainstorm how many pranks he could get away with now that he had an invisibility cloak.


	17. New Year

The entire ride from Kings Cross Station, James bounced his leg in anticipation. His hyperactivity was verging on annoying, but his doting parents still found it humorous.

"Jamesy, if you keep bouncing your leg like that it's going to fall off" Mrs. Potter laughed.

"I told you not to call me that," James whined, but the argument did not really get anywhere because they had just arrived at Kings Cross. Pushing their way through muggles with his trunks, James made it to the pillar between platforms nine and ten. Deciding that running was easier, he ran at the wall, his parents following behind him.

Platform nine and three quarters was bustling with Hogwarts kids trying to find each other and sort out their belongings. Putting his own trunks on the train, he hugged his parents before looking for a compartment.

Walking up and down the aisles, they were mostly occupied, nearing the end of the train, James saw Sirius and Remus in a compartment. Sitting down with them, James took in the differences he saw in his friends. Sirius looked the most different, his hair had been cut short and from the way he continually scratched at it, you could tell that did not like it, he also looked a tad thinner, but perhaps he had just gotten taller. Remus, on the other hand, looked a little paler as if he'd spent his whole break inside, he was also bundled in a cozy sweater, most likely new, or at least James had never seen it before.

Rushing in mere seconds before the train left, Peter busted into the cabin slightly sweaty and looking very stressed.

"You finally made it!" James exclaimed, "Starting to wonder if you were coming at all."

Panting, Peter smiled and sat down with his friends. They all chatted and tried to catch each other up on their holiday breaks, James doing most of the talking.

"So yeah, I got some of the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion that my dad just invented, he thinks it'll be a big seller," he said slightly boastful "Speaking of hair, what the hell is up with your Sirius?"

"My father made me cut it because he said it was getting too long. I hate it, I swear to Merlin I am gonna grow my hair long just to spite him."

"Go for it, I think longer hair would suit you." Remus mused.

"Yeah, long as you wash it." James laughed, "Wouldn't wanna end up looking like Snivellus."

Looking out the window, they could see that the train was getting closer to Hogsmeade, so they changed into their uniforms.

After dinner, the boys went into their dormitories, flopping down in their beds which were almost more familiar than their beds at home by now. As they went about settling back in, unpacking things, and overall ruining the room the house-elves had cleaned over the break.

"Man, I am so full" Sirius whined from where he lay, sprawled across his bed.

"Honestly, that was nothing compared to the Christmas dinner we had at my house" Peter laughed, "I was stuffed"

"Yeah," James agreed before rolling over to face Sirius' bed. "By the way, how come you never answered my letters?" Sirius looked panicked, but his gaze was fixed on the ceiling so James could not tell.

"Oh, uh, I dunno... maybe they got lost in the mail. I don't remember any owls coming with letters for me"

The lie was not exactly the best, but it appeared to have swayed James' uneasy thoughts, or maybe he just really wanted to believe his friend, regardless, he just nodded and began filing in Sirius about what he had done over the break.

"The broom is awesome, I'll have to show you it during our free time this week" James had been rambling for the past hour and only now had he finally finished summarizing what he had done during the time he was gone. "So how was your break, Sirius?"

"Oh, it wasn't that eventful." Sirius sighed. "My family all came over for Christmas Eve and Christmas, it was a bit crowded."

"Well, I'm sure everyone was excited to see you," James said, hopefully.

"Yeah, mostly my dad grilled me about being in Gryffindor. I am the first in my family so, he wasn't exactly thrilled."

From across the room, Remus sat up, maybe he felt the tension in the air, or just had fortunate timing because he announced "I'm kind of hungry, we should go break into the kitchen and get some snacks"

Luckily, everyone agreed and the group descended the stairs in pursuit of the kitchen. The entrance to the kitchen was a mystery to most, but the ever-curious marauders figured out its location. If you want to access the kitchen, you have to tickle the pear on the painting of a silver fruit bowl. Possessing this information proved useful to the group considering their ever-present need for snacks.

By now, the house-elves were used to the boys' antics and expected a mess to clean by the time the boys left. Today, when they walked in a house-elf named Libsy greeted the boys, her high-pitched voice matched her timid expression and mannerisms. After talking to the boys for a few seconds, she rushed off to prepare them some food.

When she came back, Libsy carried a tray with four warm Butterbeers and Cauldron Cakes. After thanking her, the boys sat down at one of the long wooden tables that were in the kitchen to enjoy their food. They talked and laughed so loudly getting too absorbed in their conversation that they failed to see another person enter the kitchen.

"Wow, I am really going to end up regretting giving you guys the password for the kitchen." James looked up and noticed the new person, choking on his butterbeer.

"Daisy! What are you doing here?" James managed to spit out through the shock.

"I suppose I could ask you guys the same thing" she smiled, walking over to sit at the table next to Sirius. "I couldn't sleep, so I was in the common room trying to study, but I figured I earned a break."

"Studying?" Sirius scoffed. "It's nearly two in the morning. You sound like, Remus"

"At least I study" Remus retorted playfully shoving Sirius. "Which is more than you and James can say."

Grabbing a Cauldron Cake off of the table, Daisy spoke again. "You never answer my question, why did you four come down here."

"I dunno" Sirius responded. "Just itching to stir up some mischief."

"Well as long as it doesn't involve my house." she smiled

"We would never dream to prank the Hufflepuffs," James said sarcastically. "What do you take us for?"

"You cannot blame me for being worried, you've practically been working your way through the houses." she paused, recounting the past semester. "It was little things for specific people, then the Ravenclaws, the Slytherins, things have been strangely quiet. The way I figure Hufflepuff is next."

"I could never prank a face as beautiful as yours," Sirius said.

"Shove off, Black" she laughed. "I don't trust you guys, but that's beside the point. I have some studying to get back to" Standing up from the table she waved at the boys before leaving.

"Guys, I have an idea for a prank."


	18. Pranks

Ever since their talk with Daisy, the Marauders could not help but think of the many different kinds of pranks they could play on the Hufflepuff house. After their grandiose prank they planned for the Ravenclaws, and the numerous pranks they had directed at the Slytherins, they knew the Hufflepuff scheme had to be perfect. They had some different plans in the works, fragments of ideas, pieces of a plan, but for this particular prank, they figured it should start at the drawing board.

And so they did, hours upon hours of time were spent laboring over each detail of the plan. It wasn't until Monday that the whole plan was complete, and on Tuesday they began to set things into motion. The Gryffindor boys were all sitting under a stairwell talking over the plans when things stopped falling into place.

"Listen the hallway is exactly two meters long, so if we are going to be in the hallway we need to..." James' sentence was cut off by an exasperated sigh from Sirius.

"Wait! I swear the hallway was two point zero five inches long, which would change things."

"No, the hallway is definitely only two meters," James stated clearly.

Sirius shuffled through his sketches and notes laid out on the floor until he picked up a sketched floor plan of the corridor. "See right here" Sirius gestured at the paper, which read 2.05 meters.

"Wait, was this written before or after the staircases moved? Because the end of the corridor might be slightly narrower now." Remus asked.

"Maybe we should go and remeasure to double-check" Peter piped in quietly.

"Good idea, Pete" James agreed. "Let's go now to make sure nothing goes wrong tomorrow."

Scooping up the papers on the floor the boys made their way to the kitchen corridor. While down there they were happened across by Severus Snape and Malcolm Mulciber– another Slytherin boy in their year.

"What are you four doing down here" Severus sneered.

"We could ask you the same thing, Snivellus," James said staring dead into Snape's cold near-black eyes.

"I won't have you making another mockery of Slytherin with your idiotic pranks" he snapped moving closer to James.

"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do to stop us?" Sirius said standing up taller and walking next to James.

"Shut up you filthy little blood-traitor, your parents don't even-" Snape could not even finish his sentence before James punched him. Reeling back, Snape stumbled falling backward with not even a moment to spare before James was on top of him, a few more punches connected before Snape finally processed what was going on enough to fight back.

"Mors stimulus" Snape shouted, jumping back from the shock of the hex, James quickly regained his balance and grabbed his wand.

"Expelliarmus" James shouted, sending Severus' wand across the room. With Snape weaponless, James reverted back to physical fighting, launching himself onto the other and yelling, "Don't you dare talk badly about Sirius."

"BOYS!" Professor Sprout shouted in her shrill voice. "Break it up!" After a few seconds of the boys not listening, she started again, "Petrificus Totalus Duo," Falling like boards on the floor, the boys were frozen, the only exception being their eyes which moved about wildly.

"I don't know who started this fight, but it's over! You both have detention this weekend" Professor Sprout lectured before turning to Malcolm, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, "Now I don't know why none of you boys would have tried to stop this, but I am very disappointed" she sighed shaking her head. "50 points will be taken from both Slytherin and Gryffindor." She turned to leave, muttering the counter curse for James and Severus before walking up the stairs.

Stumbling to his feet, James walked over to where his three friends stood. Malcolm walked over to Severus pulling him to his feet. Snape wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand and sneered at the Marauders before sulking up the steps.

"Are you okay?" Peter quietly asked.

"'M fine" James insisted brushing his busted lip which was already slightly swollen.

"Perhaps we should postpone the prank we had planned" Remus interjects.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Sirius mutters, "Let's just go, dinner is in an hour" They all muttered words of agreement and ascended the stairs with all of their notes for the prank that they could no longer use.

Crawling through the portrait hole, the boys made their way into the common room. Their entrance gained the attention of Lily Evans who closed her book and turned to face the boys.

"Well you lot look cheerful," she said with heavy sarcasm. "Professor McGonagall catch you trying to stir up mischief again?"

"Actually it was Sprout this time" Peter chimed in, attempting to be helpful, but only getting an elbow shove and glare from Sirius and James respectfully.

"Wow, I didn't even think Sprout gave out detentions, I'm assuming that's what you received, you must've really done something this time" Lily spoke as she stood up and walked towards the group. "Oh my god! James what happened to your face!"

"Oh," James said reaching up to the cut lip and bruised cheek he received from the fight. "There was a bit of an altercation with" he paused, realizing that explaining the situation probably would not help his case.

"Altercation with whom?" Lily asked, pausing for a reply, but it did not take her long to put the pieces together. "Oh my god, it was Sev, wasn't it?" She was growing more furious, but also more worried with each word. None of the Marauders dared to reply, they stood in shame and silence. "Wasn't it!" she said louder, and with a little more force.

"Well, you see... " James started, but he was quickly cut off.

"Don't speak, you boys are impossible!" She pushed past the four boys and went through the portrait hole, presumably to find Severus. The boys held their silence, for the first time, they weren't sure if the prank was worth it.


	19. Music of the Wind, Silence of the Stars

The air was still extremely cold even halfway through January. It was even harsher at night, which made this particular Astronomy class quite unpleasant. Even halfway up the tower, the children began to complain about the chill they could already feel. Once ascended up the stairs, the view was unbeatable, you could see the whole night sky with the gorgeous stars. This made it the obvious choice for astronomy classes. Tonight Professor Nyota had the telescopes placed all around the tower to observe the constellations. The students were broken up into pairs and there was quite a bit of bickering going on with Sirius and James.

"Quit hogging the telescope." James angrily muttered.

"Oh, hush up, I can't focus on the constellations if you keep blabbering."

"Well if you actually shared maybe we'd get our assignment done"

"Relax, James! We're gonna finish it, we have like another week."

"Two days."

"What!" Sirius said, looking up from the telescope for the first time since they got paired off.

"Ha! I knew that would work" James said, seizing the opportunity to look through the telescope. "You take your grades way too seriously, mate."

"Shove off, you know my parents would kill me if I wasn't top of my class," Sirius said, kind of laughing it off, but the humor was lost on James. It was silent between the two of them for a moment. However, the silence did give them the opportunity to really look at the stars. The view was truly breathtaking, a sight that was especially appreciated by Sirius. Much like his namesake, Sirius loved astronomy. Despite the fact that his parents practically forced him to memorize the night sky, it was still something he enjoyed learning on his own.

Sirius's voice finally broke their silence, "On a serious note, when is our assignment due?"

"On a Sirius note–"

"James!" Sirius laughed, cutting his friend off from the terrible pun.

"Kidding, kidding. It's due next week, just like you thought."

"Okay, so how about we just knock it out tomorrow during the free period. Then we won't have to worry about it"

"You've got to be kidding me, Sirius, we have a week, why rush?"

"Because, if we wait, we will never do it or we will make Remus do it and he's gonna give us another lecture."

"Yeah, I definitely can't handle the disapproving looks from Remus anymore" James laughed, "he's worse than my mum."

"Moony does have certain motherly qualities"

"What was that, Sirius?" Remus chimed in from where his telescope stood about 5 meters away.

"Nothing, Remus," Sirius replied, although it did not convince Remus. However, Remus decided not to press the issue further, but instead to just chuckle, roll his eyes and turn his attention back to Peter who had just managed to mess with the focus of their telescope.

When the class finally ended, the students hurried back to their dorms to escape the cold. The Marauders, however, were sitting by the fire chatting whilst they warmed up.

"All I am saying is that Puddlemore United is going to beat Yorkshire, I mean they have Elvernish as a Chaser." James was getting a bit heated in his defense.

"But Yorkshire has Blumbing as a Keeper, there's no way they can lose" Sirius argued.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Sirius stood his ground

"You willing to bet on that?"

"Hell yeah, how much?"

"2 Galleons," James said confidently.

"You're on," Sirius said, sticking out his hand for James to shake, once they shook on it, it was settled.

"You two are insufferable," Remus said not even bothering to look up from his book.

"You love us, Remus," James retorts, laughing along with Sirius. During the commotion, Lily made her way down the stairs and into the common room.

"What are you guys doing up," Lily asks in an accusatory tone, "I mean you two I get," she gestures to Sirius and James.

"I don't like your accusations, Lily," Sirius says feigning hurt. "Besides you're up too. We could ask you the same."

"What are you doing up, Lily?" Remus bookmarked his page and looked up a bit concerned.

"Oh my goodness, are you reading the book I lent you!" Lily exclaimed. "How are you liking it?"

"It's absolutely lovely," Remus said smiling, but continued in a calm voice, "Why are you changing the subject?"

"I'm not changing the subject," Lily said, eyes shifting to the floor as she began to move towards the painting hole.

Sirius slid right in front of her, "Woah there, where are you headed?"

"It's none of your business, Black" Lily gritted her teeth and attempted to move around Sirius only to run into James.

"Evans, what's the rush?" James said, "I would ask if you have a hot date, but I'm right here."

"Don't make me hex both of you," she said.

"Just tell us where you're going and we'll move."

"And why would I trust your word, Black?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Evans, I am very trustworthy"

"Fine, it's an early birthday surprise from Sev, goodbye" Lily dashed out the door to escape further questioning from the boys.

"Her birthday is coming up?" James exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's on the 30th," Remus said, "I thought you knew."

"No, I didn't, that would be something you share, Rem" James paused, "Merlin, I need to figure out what to get her"

"If you really think you're going to win her over after you practically interrogated her at the door." But James was already lost in his thoughts about what to get Lily. "Well, on that note, I'm going to bed now." He collected his book and ascended up the stairs.

"Sirius, we've got planning to do," James shouted.

"Shhhhh, you're gonna wake up Peter!" Sirius scolded.

"Too late," Peter mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry," James said, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"It's fine, I'm going to bed." He replied, going up the stairs, leaving James and Sirius alone in the common room.

"Okay, we've got work to do," James said, getting back to his previous statement.

"James, it's nearly three in the morning, we're going to bed"

"But–"

"Bed, James"

**~~~~~~~~~~~~**

**"Magic exists. Who can doubt it, when there are rainbows and wildflowers, the music of the wind and the silence of the stars? Anyone who has loved has been touched by magic. It is such a simple and such an extraordinary part of the lives we live."**

― Nora Roberts 


	20. Bad News on the Doorstep

The weekend at Hogwarts approached the chill keeping most of the students inside the safe boundaries of the castle's thick walls, however, some students were enjoying the fresh layer of snow on the ground along with the continued flurries coming from the sky. Among those students were Lily and Severus, who were enjoying a nice stroll through the Middle Courtyard.

"All I'm saying is, if you crushed the snake fangs and sliced the Pungous Onions, the potion would be way more potent," Severus said.

"Sev, I'm not saying you're wrong," Lily sighed, "But I think it's a little dangerous for you to be messing around with potion instructions."

"The textbooks, haven't been updated in ages, Lily, someone should change things"

"Well, you're awfully young to die in some horrible potion experiment," Lily said getting slightly heated. "Besides, I was talking to Professor Slughorn a few days ago and he was telling me about a student of his. She's a little older than us, a third-year, and she likes to mess around creating spells and potions of her own."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Severus said, confused as to the point of the story.

"Well, last year she was concocting a potion and it exploded!" Lily sat down under a tree.

"Merlin!" Severus said, sitting beside her. "Is she ok?"

"She's fine, but it seared her eyebrows off and they couldn't grow back for two months!"

"Heaven forbid, I'm sure it scared the blokes away." Severus sarcastically threw back.

Hitting him on the shoulder, Lily continued, "You're missing the point, she could've been seriously hurt, and so can you."

"Well she's fine, and so am I."

"I just worry about you, that's all," Lily said softly.

Severus' face softened, "I know, and I'll be careful."

"Swear?"

"Swear." Severus stood up, brushing snow off of his robes and offering a hand to Lily. She ignored it, however, standing up by herself, almost as if she had something to prove. They continued walking side by side through the courtyard.

"Since when do you and Slughhorn chat anyways," Severus asked.

"He was speaking to me about some club of his, mentioning that if I make it continue into his N.E.W.T.-level class I should consider joining. Don't be surprised when he asks you, I'm sure you're next, you are top of the class,"

"Interesting," he pondered, "I think we should join, you know when we're older."

"As long as we do it together" she smiled.

"Of course," he smiled looking at her face, but her attention was captured by James Potter running past them. "Oi Potter, where you going off to in such a hurry?" James spun to face Severus, his cheeks red and splotchy with fresh tears brimming in his eyes.

"Shove off Snivellus," James said, attempting to put menace behind his voice, but failing as he words quivered. Without giving Lily and Severus much time to think about it, he was already gone, rushing into the castle leaving the pair confused.

Reaching his desired location, James finally stopped running and in the hollow of a stairwell finally took heaving breaths, exhausted from running. After sitting down he cried for a while, the sobs echoing miserably throughout the stairwell as he hiccuped trying to calm down. Eventually, when his cries subsided he stood up to compose himself and with newly steadied breathing and a dry face, James headed up the stairs. Thankfully the hallways were, for the most part, deserted. He was nearly to the common room when he ran straight into Lily Evans.

"James!" she exclaimed, "Are you ok? Earlier you seemed–"

"I'm fine," he said shortly, ducking his head to avoid looking her in the eyes.

"It doesn't seem like you are..." she trailed off, finding the whole matter a little bit stressful.

"Well I am," anger was rising in James' voice, he turned and began to head down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"It's none of your business, Evans" Deciding it was better not to follow him, Lily did the next best thing and sent his friend after him.

.................................................................

The sun was setting and the already cold air was becoming even sharper with the wind. Regardless of the temperature, Remus trudged through the previously fallen snow, in the direction of the Quidditch pitch where he knew James would be. As he approached the pitch he could see James lying like a starfish down in the center of the field, a thin layer of snow on his coat suggesting that he had been there for a while.

"Haven't seen you since you left for the Owlery after lunch," Remus said, taking a seat in the snow next to James, "Something happen?"

"No," James said, getting defensive as he sat up and spoke to Remus.

Obviously not believing him, Remus pressed on, "Really? Because I spoke to Lily about an hour ago and she told me a different story"

"Well it's not really any of her damn business and she should know that."

"Relax mate, I don't know why you're so upset, but you can't honestly think holding it in is any better." Remus scooted closer to James, putting a comforting hand on the other boy's shoulder and looking him in the eyes, "Talk to me."

After a long pause of silence, James finally drew in a deep breath and spoke in as steady as a voice as he could manage, "My mum is sick, I got a letter from my dad today."

"That's why you didn't come back from the Owlery?" Remus questioned.

"Well I went to the edge of campus to read the letter and finish up some homework, you know because it's pretty peaceful out by the Forbidden Forest, but when I read the letter, I–" his voice broke, a few tears fell from his eye, but he wiped them away with the back of his hand, "I was just freaking out so I ran, I don't know exactly where I was planning on going, but I headed towards the castle. Then I passed Lily and she was with Snivellus, and I told him off, but I ran into her again later and kind of blew up on her, but I just don't know what to do anymore, I'm–"

"Breathe," Remus said calmly, "You're spiraling and you're only going to make things worse."

James flopped backwards into the snow, calming down with the silence between the boys. "What's it like?"

"What?" Remus responded, confused about what James was talking about.

"Having a parent sick, your mom is sick too, isn't she."

"Oh... " Remus said, looking a bit taken aback. "Well, sickness in general just kind of sucks." Remus let out a dry laugh. "You feel so run down and it takes so much energy just to do the simple things, but that's not even the worst part. I mean, yeah, your body is exhausted and that is not fun at all, but the emotions. When you're sick you feel useless sometimes, and when things are worse, hopeless. It makes you wonder if things can get better, you know?"

"For your mom?" James said, pausing for Remus' response.

"Uh yeah," Remus said looking down and continuing. "But of course, it isn't just one person who is affected, it is the people around them too. Everyone who cares about the person feels apart of that pain because when you're close to them, you go through it with them, not in the exact same way, but it hurts nonetheless."

"Like when you get kind of sickly around the time you visit your mother," James added, trying to understand everything Remus was saying.

Remus sighed shaking his head a little, but smiling nonetheless, "Just like that."

"That sounds awful, Rem, how do you manage? I mean I found out today and everything already seems so overwhelming I don't even know what to do with myself." James rambled on, his calm demeanor quickly crumbling as the reality of the situation hit him once again.

"Breathe, James," Remus said as he took a deep breath himself. "You asked how I manage? Well, you're a big part of that."

"Me?"

"Of course, you, Sirius, and Peter do everything you can to keep me happy around the time of my visits home. Without you guys, things would be way worse." Remus smiled, "What I am trying to say is, you have all of us here for you, hell you have Lily too and you know how insufferable she finds you." They both laughed.

"Yeah, I've really got to apologize to her about snapping earlier and figure out her present"

"Well, you're not going to help her by getting hypothermia out here, so, let's go inside."


	21. Hopelessly Devoted

With less than a week left until Lily’s birthday, James was in overdrive. Everything was mostly planned in advance for the day with the only downside being, James had not spoken to Lily since he snapped at her.

“Listen, mate, she’s avoiding me.” James whisper shouted.

“You’re being overdramatic,” Remus reasoned looking up to make sure no one was listening.

“You’re being overdramatic,” James said in a mocking voice, then continued in his excited whispers, “Yesterday, I waved and shouted her name and she turned to look at a tree. A TREE” his voice raised.

“Something you would like to share with the class, Mister Potter?” With those words, James and Remus snapped their heads forward to face Professor Binns.

“Uh, no sir,” James said sheepishly, gaining an eye roll from Lily and a snort from Sirius sitting across the room.

“Then I suggest you stop talking.” Turning back to the board and squinting through the deceased professor, James could tell that he was supposed to be learning about Emeric the Evil, but even after a warning from his professor, he could not bring himself to care about anything other than Miss Evans’ birthday.

After a few moments, Remus saw fit to pick up the conversation again. “I still think you’re being rather dramatic, but I’m sure she’ll forgive you eventually, don’t you have something planned for her birthday?”

“That I do, Mooney. By the way, I was wondering if I could get your insight on Evans so the present goes well.”

“Whatever James, we’ll talk after class.” And sure enough, when the bell rang James caught up with Remus in the hallway, looping an arm around the other boy’s shoulders, leading him down a different corridor.

“James, where the hell are we going?” Remus’ exasperated voice showed that he was clearly not putting up with any schemes.

“Ah, it’s a surprise, don’t ruin the fun.” Eventually, as they approached an empty classroom and turned in revealing Sirius and a skittish Peter sitting at a table in the room.

“Nice of you two to finally show up,” Sirius said, “We’ve been waiting for ages.”

“Class got out like 5 minutes ago” James laughed.

“Why are we here again?” Peter piped in.

“As you both know, Lily’s birthday is in a few days.”

“On Sunday” Remus added.

“Right, Sunday. Which means we need to get everything to complete her present.”

“We don't have to do anything, this sounds like your problem” Remus laughed.

“You guys at least need to help,” James insisted.

“What do you need us to do,” Sirius asked.

“Well, I need to sneak out to Hogsmeade” from his bag, James produced several pieces of parchment filled with notes and random scribbles. “I need flowers and some candy of course.”

“Remus, what’s her favorite candy?”

“Licorice Wands”

“Perfect, I’ll sneak into Honeydukes cellar through the passageway and get the necessities tomorrow around lunchtime and be back before evening break.”

“You better take the invisibility cloak” Sirius proposed.

“And get her a card” Remus noted.

“It sounds like a plan” The devilish glint in James’ eye made it clear that there would be no changing his mind.

“Sirius, you in?”

“Always.”

“Great, last, but not least, Remus and Peter, you two will need to be on distraction.”

“Of course we are” Remus laughed dryly. “What do you need me to do?”

“Distract McGonagall, ask her something about Transfiguration or history, she loves talking about that. And Peter.” James said, gaining a yip from Peter in surprise and nervousness.

“Me?” he asked sheepishly.

“Yeah, I need you to keep Filch away from the passageways, Merlin knows we can’t afford detention again”

“Yeah and if we get any more points taken away, we’re gonna lose our chance for the House Cup” Remus stated.

“Meh, we’ll make it up in Quidditch, we’re actually good this season.” Sirius dismissed Remus’ comment.

“Okay, everything is sorted.”

Having the plan in mind, the Marauders saw no need to mention anything about it until Saturday’s lunch rolled around. James and Sirius, armed with the Invisibility Cloak and a list of items they needed to ensure nothing was forgotten, left for Hogsmeade. Meanwhile, both Remus and Peter headed out in search of their respective tasks.

“Professor McGonagall, might I have a moment?” Remus asked in a calm voice, trying his best to sound inconspicuous.

“Mister Lupin, what a pleasant surprise! Come, we can speak in my office.” When both of them were seated in her office, she continued. “What was it you wanted to speak about?”

“I had a question about yesterday’s lesson actually” Remus continued. “We spoke briefly about the Transfiguration Alphabet, but it was the letter J, or Δ rather, I know it has a unique use, but the way you explained its properties didn’t quite make sense, could you elaborate possibly?”

“Ah! A fine question indeed, and one with a rich history I might add. The proper explanation is quite long though so we might be here for a while. Please help yourself to a biscuit– seeing as you are missing your lunch break.”

“No, thank you,” He said, politely refusing.

“Take a biscuit Mister Lupin, you’ve starting to look a bit ill this week” She shot a warning glance over her glasses and heeding her statement, Remus took the offered food and nodded, signaling the Professor to start the explanation.

……………………………………………………….. 

“No sir, I am positive he is not in my dorm room.”

“Gosh, back in the day, if you lost your toad, it would be used in the next potions lesson.” Mr. Filch grumbled.  
“Now that you mention, I think I brought it down to potions class with me,”

“And I suppose, you want me to accompany you there as well.”

“Now sir, you wouldn’t want me roaming the halls unsupervised during lunch,” Peter feigned innocence, hoping his voice was not as shaky as it felt and that Mr. Filch could not see through his lies.

“Very well, let’s get on with it.” After emerging from the fifth classroom since he started the search, Peter said. “I really thought it would be in charms, but maybe it was actually History of Magic.”

“In the name of Merlin, I will not search through another classroom!” Filch exclaimed growing tired of Peter’s antics almost as if on cue, the clock struck one o’clock, signaling the end of lunch.

“Alas, I’ll just have to search my dorm room again,” Peter said, relieved that he no longer had to buy time. “Thanks for your help!”

Waving his hand in dismissal, he walked off grumbling to himself. “Bloody hell you waste your whole lunch period and still found nothing. Fell off the back of a broom he did, it would make sense,”   
………………………………………………………..

“Complete success!” James exclaimed, high-fiving Sirius when they made it to the safety of their dorm, now all that’s left is to give it to her, apologize, and help her have the best birthday ever!”

“If she accepts your apology of course,”

“She will! How could she not”

“Your charm does not work on everyone, mate”

“It’ll be fine,” James said, trying to shake the negative thoughts out of his head. “Let’s go find Peter and Remus to make sure they held up their half of the plan.”

Before long, It was Sunday, and for the better half of the day, no one could find Lily, however, around dusk James finally spotted her from out of the library window.

“Guys! She is walking up from the Quidditch pitch, I can catch her in the courtyard.”

“Well quit wasting time then, James” Sirius laughed. “Go get her.” With that, James was out of the library, running downstairs until he reached the courtyard, just in time to fix his hair and clothes before Lily came into view.

“Evans!” James shouted.

“I’m actually having a good day today, Potter, I am not going to let your arrogance ruin it.” Lily turned to walk away, but James crossed back to stand in front of her path.

“About that, I want to apologize.”

“Oh really, go on then.”

“Listen, I shouldn’t have snapped at you, I was having a rough day, and with mum in the hospital I just kind–”

“Wait, your mum is in the hospital?” Lily questioned, concern etched on her face.

“Well she’s out now, but either way, I am not trying to make excuses for myself. I acted like an ass and I am sorry.”

“Oh James, I’m sorry. I was being really insensitive, I had no idea.” She flung her arms around him in a hug but pulled back confused. “What’s that in your pocket?”

“Right! That is the second part. I heard it was your birthday and I got you a little something.” He pulled the Licorice Wands and slightly crumpled flowers out of his cloak. “I got lilies because, well, you know, lilies for Lily,” James laughed to himself mostly in embarrassment.

Lily took the candy and flowers “They’re lovely, thank you!”

“Am I forgiven?”

“You are,” she bumped his arm with her elbow, “Just don’t act like a prat next time and tell me, okay?” Her voice softened in the last part. “And now I am going to go inside, it’s freezing out here.” She walked away and before she was out of reach, James shouted.

“Happy Birthday, Evans!”


	22. The City Sleeps to Hide

It was always dangerous being out after curfew on a Thursday, the Ravenclaws have a midnight Astronomy class which means there is a high chance of getting caught. Nevertheless, James and Sirius had snuck out around 11:45 and made their way to the Quidditch Pitch.

“We probably shouldn’t bother practicing, if we fly too high Professor Nyota will spot us.”

“Yeah,” James said gloomily, “Well if we came all the way out here we’ve got to do something.”

“You have way too much energy,” Sirius laughed. “Just sit down, we can enjoy the stars.” Complying, James sat down on the slightly wet grass next to Sirius and started looking towards the sky.

“Wow,” James gasped quietly, attempting to take in the sight he was seeing. 

“Breathtaking isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I know right? I used to sit outside for hours when things were tense in the house...” It fell kind of quiet between them. “Sorry kind of a mood killer,” Sirius chuckled wryly.

“No, no don’t be sorry. It’s fine,” James assured.

“I wonder what it’s like, out in the muggle world,” Sirius asked, “You think it’s worse?”

“Can’t be that bad, we all look at the same stars.”

“That’s true, I bet it’s more friendly, they don’t have stupid blood status out there,” Sirius said, a little bit of malice in his tone.

“Not everyone cares about blood status,” James added hopefully, “I don’t, Remus and Peter don’t”

“Yeah… I’m so lucky to have you guys, I was such an arse when I got to school.”

“It’s hardly your fault, you only knew what you were taught. Kind of hard to forget everything you’ve known in your life in one night.”

“I just feel like things would be easier without magic.”

“I can’t even imagine my life without magic, I grew up with it, but you’re kind of right I wonder how different our lives would be if we lived in the muggle world.”

“Maybe you could ask Lily about it,” Sirius laughed, “She’s finally talking to you again.”

James shrugged, “I dunno, we’re not that close yet, but I’d like to be.” James smiled to himself, “She’s just so great, I don’t know what it is about her.”

“Her looks?” Sirius suggested nudging James with his elbow.

“Her everything, she’s brilliant and funny, plus she’s got that fiery temper,” He sighed. “She’s got everything and more, I just don’t understand why she’s always around Snivellus.”

“Trust me, mate, I don’t get it either,” Sirius scoffed. “You’re loads better than he’ll ever be”

“Try convincing her that.”

“Maybe Remus could convince her? They are pretty close,” Sirius offered.

“That’s true, but I doubt even Remus could sway her away from him. He’s totally got her wrapped around his finger.” It was quiet between the two of them as they just took a moment to think and look at the stars. “You know, Remus sure is gone a lot.”

“Could you blame him, his mom’s sick” Sirius kind of took a defensive tone.

“No, No, I didn’t mean it like that, I just feel bad. His mom must be doing pretty bad, he goes every month.”

“Like clockwork”

“It’s sure nice of Dumbledore to let him visit.”

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, “Good thing Remus is so smart, Merlin knows I’d be failing if I was out of school that much.”

“You’re already failing,” James laughed.

“Shove off, I’m near the top of our class. The only people ahead of me are Lily, Snivellus, and Mooney.”

“But who’s ahead of you in Transfiguration?” James baited.

“Yeah yeah you beat me in one class, congrats” The sarcasm dripping in Sirius’ voice. They both laughed for a few minutes until the laughs subsided into silence.

“It’s so quiet out here,” Sirius whispered.  
“What’d you expect, mate, it’s past midnight.”

“I’m serious! The city just stops at night you know, Hogwarts isn’t full of magic anymore, everything just sleeps.”

“I’ve never thought about it that way,” James said, thinking it over, “It’s almost eerie in a way.”

“Yeah, like there are so many secrets and the darkness of the night makes them out in the open, but all the people sleep to escape that vulnerability.” Sirius rambled.

“I guess we all kind of hide… it’s almost cowardly.” The boys sat and mulled over that fact and look at the vast stars in the sky for about an hour before seeing fit to head back inside. As they entered the quiet castle, safely hidden by the invisibility cloak. They only ran into a problem as they attempted to ascend their first flight of stairs.

“Shit,” Sirius said, stumbling over a step. “I can’t see anything its too bloody dark!”

“Hold on,” James fumbled around until he pulled his wand out. “Lumos” A small light was produced out of the tip of James’ wand and he lit the way up the rest of the stairs.

“Did you hear that?” Sirius whispered loudly. 

“No, what is it?”

“Footsteps.” The pair froze where they stood at the top of the stairs, holding their breath as they listened. Once again, the sound of footsteps was heard, and this time James heard it too.

“Nox” James whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible. With the light extinguished, James felt slightly more at ease, but neither of the boys dared to move yet. “You think they’re gone?” 

“I hope so,” Sirius said. “Let’s just get going.” The pair headed down the hallway but did not get the chance to turn into the stairwell before hearing footsteps again this time along with muttering.

“Its Filch!” James whispered. James and Sirius backed against the wall as the footsteps grew closer. The pair watched in fear as Filch walked from his end of the hallway to where they stood, led by Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s nosy little cat. Mrs. Norris sat right next to where the boys were standing and stared up at them.

“Mrs. Norris!” Filch shouted. “What’s there? You see something.”

“Shoo!” Sirius whispered under his breath, trying to push the cat away to no avail. Filch finally made it to where his trusty cat sat and stared at James and Sirius. The boys held their breath, knowing that Filch could not actually see them, but should he reach out they would be discovered.

After a few minutes of seeing nothing, Filch gave up. “Come along, Mrs. Norris. We’ve other matters to attend to.” After Filch was gone from the hallway, James and Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. 

“That was close, mate,” James said.

“Yeah, we better get going before that wretched cat decides to comes back.” With words of agreement the two started running and did not stop until they were in the safety of the common room. The pair took heaving breaths and then started in a fit of laughter from their safe return. 

“What a rush,” James shouted.

“Shhh,” Sirius laughed, “You’ll wake the whole tower! It’s late, we should head to bed.” Entering the dorm room the pair was very surprised to find Remus awake reading at one of the desks.

“Back pretty late,” Remus mused, lazily turning the page of his book.

“Would have been back sooner if Filch hadn’t gone snooping.” Sirius defended.

“Told you it was a bad idea going out so late.”

“Yeah yeah, Mooney. You’re always right. We’ll remember that next time”

“I don’t know about always, but nevertheless, we should all get some rest.” Remus set his book down and headed to his bed. 

“Nevertheless” James mouthed, mocking Remus’ word choice. The pair laughed for a moment and finally, went to sleep.


	23. Up Top, Evans

After breakfast on Fridays, the first year Slytherins and Gryffindors headed down to the dungeons for their potions class. On this particular day, James sat with Marlene while they continued their animated argument about the best sweet from Honeydukes. This left Lily to be paired with Sirius earning a slightly confused look from Professor Slughorn before he started his lecture.

“Today we will be brewing the Cure for Boils,” Professor Slughorn said excitedly. “Does anyone remember what the most important step of this potion is? We discussed it, last class.”

Lily’s hand shot up and in a split-second decision, Sirius saw fit to high five her. Putting her hand down in shock for a minute she turned to Sirius with an annoyed look, “What was that for?”

“What was what for, Evans?” Sirius said, feigning innocence.

“You’re insufferable, Black,” Lily said through gritted teeth, raising her hand again to once again receive a high five from Sirius.

“Miss Evans?”

“The most important step is to take the cauldron off of the fire before adding the porcupine quills”

“Now does anyone know what happens if that step is not followed.” Lily raised the hand furthest away from Sirius in an attempt to prevent him from continuing his stupid joke, but Sirius was persistent if anything and he stood up and slapped her hand anyways. Despite the sound that alerted most of the students, the professor did not seem phased by what was going on in his classroom but instead turned his attention to another one of his students.

“Mister Snape?”

“If you do not follow that step, the cauldron will melt and create a horrid odor”

“Very good!” Slughorn praised. “And should the potion make contact with your skin?” Surprisingly, Sirius this question. Lily decided now was the time for her revenge, but before she could reach up, Sirius had already pinned her hand down.

“Not so fast Evans,” Sirius laughed. “You can’t beat me at my own game.” 

“I hate you,” she laughed. “You and your impossible Quidditch reflexes”

“Truly a shame I didn’t make the team,” he mused before being called on by the Professor.  
“The bathroom, Mister Black?”

“I am hurt, Professor” Sirius said with his usual dramatic flair. “I actually wanted to answer the question.”

“Apologies” Slughorn said. “Your answer?”

“If you get the potion on your skin it will erupt in vicious boils”

“Correct,” Slughorn said with a slight surprise in his voice. “Now that we know the dangers, please collect all of your materials, you have the rest of the class to brew the potion.”

“I can grab the stuff if you can heat the cauldron?” Sirius offered. 

“Since when do you read the textbooks?” Lily asked.

“Please Evans,” Sirius scoffed. “I take my school work very seriously”

“You just high fived me, twice” Lily deadpanned.

“I’m gonna get the ingredients,” Sirius laughed. 

The Gryffindors did not have another potions class until Monday morning, and once again, the Slytherins were also present. Unlike last time, however, seating arrangements were fairly normal with LIly and Marlene together and James and Sirius at the table in front of them.

Most of their class lectures had been forgotten over the weekend, but the one thing that had not been forgotten was Sirius’ high five pranks. The Friday in which the entire shenanigan started, Sirius high fived Lily every time she raised her hand in class. She was so over it by the third class that she stopped raising her hand altogether. With a new week beginning, she had high hopes as she raised her hand and received no reaction from Sirius. She even bit back a smug comment in the hopes that he had forgotten the whole ordeal. Little did Lily know, Sirius was just biding his time when he spoke to the other Marauders of his plan, they all agreed that to make Lily angrier, Sirius would need to be more unpredictable. In fact, it was not until their Defense Against the Dark Arts class that Lily has faced with the prank again.

“Today we are continuing our discussion of Imps. Does anyone remember a fact about Imps that they would like to share?” Unsurprisingly, Lily raised her hand, but to her dismay, she received a high five in return of her knowledge.

“I thought you were done with this Sirius” Lily gritted through her teeth.

“Never,” Sirius replied with his signature smirk.  
“Ah! Miss Evans?”

“Imps are approximately 6-8 inches long,” This earned a chuckle from more than a few boys in the room, but those boys quieted quickly after receiving a glare from Professor Ulinzi. “They are also characterized by their yellow eyes and grey bodies.”

“Very good, five points to Gryffindor.” Ulinzi turned to the blackboard where an enchanted piece of chalk began writing details and descriptions of Imps, “In addition to the physical characteristics, Imps are known for having slapstick humor, something I think many of the students in here might relate to,” He looked over his glasses at the boys in the room as he finished his statement. As the lecture continued, one by one nearly every student lost interest and zoned out which did not go unnoticed by their teacher.

“Since you, all seem so fascinated by Imps, I would like you all to write at least a 12-inch parchment essay summarizing their characteristics as compared to pixies. That will be due Wednesday, I look forward to reading them.” Ulinzi looked proud at the attention he grabbed when announcing that assignment. “Class dismissed!”

“How the hell am I supposed to write that much information about Imps! They’re so bloody boring!” James complained.

“We can write it together, free period today?” Sirius suggested.

“No, I will just to it tomorrow,” James shrugged.

“Your funeral.” Sirius laughed, turning away from James “Do you wanna work on it, Remus?”

“Sure,” Remus smiled. “Probably better to do it sooner. Library?”

“Yeah, maybe we can actually find some information in there, Professor Ulinzi sure didn’t teach us anything.”

“He lectured for an hour, mate, you just didn’t listen.”

“I did too!” Sirius protested.

“Can I see the notes you took, then?” Remus challenged.

“I– Um...” Sirius racked his brain trying to think of an excuse.

“You can borrow mine,” Remus laughed. “Now come on, we’re gonna be late for History of Magic”


	24. Truth or Dare?

It was very late on a Tuesday night, and while many of their peers were getting ample rest in preparation for their Midnight Astronomy lesson the next day, the Marauders were wide awake and in the middle of a very serious game of Truth or Dare.

“My turn, my turn!” Sirius yelled while the other three shushed him for being so loud. “Alright,” he lowered his voice to appease his friends. “James, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“You’re so lame, James.” Sirius protested, but James did not change his mind. “Okay. Is it true,” Sirius thought for a minute, “that you’re in love with Lily?”

“Of course not,” James rushed. “I mean she’s pretty and all, and bloody brilliant, but I am not in love with her.”

“He is so in love with her,” Remus whispered to Sirius, who nodded in response.

“I heard that,” James laughed, throwing a pillow at the pair. “Peter, truth or dare?”

“Uh… ” Peter looked nervous, “Dare?” James got that evil glint in his eye and Peter began regretting his choice.

“I dare you to start a food fight tomorrow at breakfast,” James said.

“But- I” Peter looked visibly nervous. “How would I even do that?”

“Not my problem,” James laughed.

Sirius leaned over and whispered in Peter’s ear, “Just toss something at me and I’ll get it going, okay?”

“Okay,” Peter whispered back. “Remus, Truth or Dare.”

“Dare,” Remus said, knowing that Peter couldn’t come up with anything actually damaging to his reputation.

“I dare you to- to,” Peter paused, “steal a book from the library,”

“Sure, that’s not too bad,” Remus said.

“The restricted section.” Peter finished.  
“Oh,” Remus said surprised, but that was drowned out by the sounds of cheering from James and Sirius.

“Way to go Pete!”

“Didn’t think you had it in you, but it looks like we have taught you a thing or two this year.”

“Will the two of you hush up!” Remus scolded. “I’ll go tomorrow at lunch I guess, breakfast will be pretty busy already as it stands.”

“Great now we just need to do something at dinner,” Sirius said, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion.

“Maybe we should get some sleep,” James said. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Plus we have astronomy,” Remus added. They all muttered agreements before climbing into their respective beds and sleeping.

The next morning, the boys got up to a fairly sluggish start, which was unsurprising considering their extremely late activities the previous night. However, even when all for of them had actually pried themselves out of bed and made it down to breakfast, the worst was still yet to come. When they sat down the three boys looked to Peter with anticipation. They were anxiously awaiting the food fight which was to come. Begrudgingly, Peter threw a spoonful of hash browns at Sirius. This singular action catapulted into pure chaos as Sirius flipped his entire plate onto an unsuspecting Marlene McKinnon. 

From there, Gryffindors began to throw food to the nearest table, the Slytherins, who in turn threw food to the Hufflepuffs and in a few minutes, nearly every student was participating. Since everything happened so quickly, the teachers were slightly late to react. Nevertheless, they did eventually catch up to what happened and put a start things. Headmaster Dumbledore used the Sonorous Charm allowing his voice to boom around the Great Hall.

“Everybody quiet down!” Dumbledore’s calm, but firm voice echoed. This worked and the food stopped flying as the shouts subsided to whispers. With the newfound calmness, Professor McGonagall made a beeline for where the Marauders sat.

“I am assuming, you four are the cause of this?” She questioned in a knowing tone.

“I am appalled!” Sirius said.

“The accusation!” James played along with the joke.

“You’re right,” Remus deadpanned, receiving slightly angry looks from both James and Sirius. “Don’t look at me, we were gonna get detention either way.”

“I appreciate the honesty, Mister Lupin.” McGonagall conceded. “And in light of that, I will only give you two detentions each.”

“Really?” James was shocked at her light punishment.

“Don’t make me change my mind, now get to class!” Not risking a severe punishment, the boys scurried off to class. It was fairly calm following the frenzied breakfast of the morning. The Marauders barely even spoke in class, with the exception of arguments between Sirius and Lily when he would high-five her in class.

Before long, it was lunch and the Marauders headed to the Great Hall, leaving Remus to head to the library alone. When Remus arrived he smiled at Madame Pince like he always did and she smiled back because despite being a severe woman, she loved Remus. His friends were a librarian’s worst nightmare, but Remus was always respectful and turned his books in on time. This worked in his favor as he was able to go straight into the restricted section.

He looked quickly and decided on a small leather book called ‘Moste Potente Potions’ placing the book in his bag, he rushed out of the restricted section grabbing another book along the aisles as to not look suspicious when he left.

Despite looking visibly nervous, he was able to check out the book and leave the library without getting in trouble. He finally walked into the Great Hall and showed the book to his friends discreetly under the table.

“You actually did it,” James was surprised.

“Dare is a dare,” Remus shrugged.

“We aren’t giving you nearly enough credit, Mooney,” Sirius said.

“Well I am full of surprises,” Remus said with a dry laugh.


	25. Good News Around the Bend

The harsh cold of winter was dying down, but the chill was still very much prevalent. Nevertheless, even the cold could not bring down James’s mood as he came back from the Owlery. 

“Why are you smiling like you’ve just pulled a prank?” Lily sounded a little nervous running into a happy-looking James.

“Can’t I just be happy?” 

“You’re never just happy, something had to have happened.” She paused but eventually decided she would rather not know all the details. “Just tell me that no one is hurt?”

“Oh, no one is hurt, quite the opposite actually.” James turned on his heel and continued his walk to the Gryffindor Tower.

“You make no sense, Potter!” Lily yelled after him.

“It’s more fun that way, Evans!” he yelled back without turning her way. Once in the common room, James spotted Remus reading on the couch. Running up behind him, James grabbed his shoulders and shook them eagerly. “Remus I have news!”

“You don’t need to dislocate my shoulders to tell me your news.”

“Oh,” James said, as he stopped shaking him. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Remus laughed. “What’s your news?”

“My mum is getting released from St. Mungo’s tomorrow, they said she’s going to be fine.”

“That’s great, James!” Remus said with a smile. “I know you were very worried about her. When are you going to tell Sirius and Peter.”

“Well,” James scratched the back of his neck, “I never actually told them she was sick.”

“Not even Sirius?” Remus was surprised because they told each other everything.

“Well after I talked to you, I knew the rest of them wouldn’t really understand. Besides, I didn’t want to worry them for no reason.” James paused for a second, sucking in air after his spiel. “Please don’t tell them.” 

“I won’t, but I think you should.” 

“I’ll think about it,” James said sincerely. “You can go back to reading now, I’ve got to finish my Potions homework.”

“You’re gonna do your own homework?”

“About that–” James started.

“I’m not giving you my essay,” Remus said firmly. “I let you copy last time, you’ve got to do your own work at some point in time.”

“I wasn’t even going to copy,” James lied. “I just wanted to… reference it?”

“Sure you did, but either way, you can’t see it. I’ve already turned it in”

“Mooney! How am I supposed to do a whole foot of parchment before tomorrow,” James was fishing for sympathy and Remus could tell, but even so, he gave in.

“I’ll revise it for you before you turn it in, but that’s it.”

“You’re the best! Thank you, Remus.” James rushed up the stairs before Remus could change his mind. To his surprise, Sirius was in the dorm already, sitting at the desk writing something.

“Why’re you so happy?” Sirius laughed.

“I just got good news,” James told a half-lie to avoid talking about his mother.

“What’s the news?”

“Um,” James paused trying to think of something. “Remus agreed to revise my Potions essay.” 

“That’s not very exciting,” Sirius said but did not press further. “Wait a minute!” James tensed, fearing that Sirius would press for details further. “You haven’t started your essay yet? It’s due tomorrow!”

“Yeah, I put it off, what else is new?”

“Well you better get to writing,” Sirius said in a half-scolding, half-joking tone. “Slughorn is not going to let you turn it in late again. I don't even know why he let you turn the last one in late.”

The last time they had an essay, was the week James had found out about his mother. He went to Slughorn’s office and practically begged for an extension whilst he tried not to cry. Of course, the extension was granted and James gave some half-baked excuse to his friends about how he had a lot of the detentions that week and Slughorn finally gave in, but even James would not have believed that.

“Yeah I can’t believe he gave me extra time either, but not to worry, I am a pro at last-minute essay writing.” James bragged.

“Yeah right!” Sirius laughed. “The only thing you’re skilled at is copying Remus’ work.”

“Hey!” James threw a pillow from his bed at Sirius. “That is not true!” The two settled down and James had just gotten out his parchment to start his essay when Remus walked in. “Remus! I was just talking to Sirius about–”

“You told him about your mum! That’s great, I knew that–”

“What happened to your mum?” Sirius asked confused.

“Oh, I’m sorry I thought you meant that,” Remus said, sounding very upset that he had accidentally told James’s secret.

“It’s okay, Remus. He needs to know anyways.” James turned to Sirius and explained the whole situation about his mom. The entire time James talked, Sirius never interrupted but instead nodded his head. When he finished Sirius finally spoke.

“I’m so sorry mate, I had no idea, but I’m so glad she’s gonna be ok!”

“Yeah me too,” James said with a relieved sigh.

“Well, this calls for a celebration!” Sirius said. “That is if you’re up for some late-night hijinks?”

“I’m in!” James laughed. “I am always in.”

“Great! I’ll let Peter know,” Sirius said halfway out the door. “Unless you wanna tell him yourself?”

“Go tell him the plan,” James waved his hand in dismissal. “I’ll fill in the details later.”

“Sounds good! See you guys at dinner” Sirius said shutting the door behind him as he left.

“Once again,” Remus took a more serious tone. “I am sorry I told Sirius before you did.”

“It's ok,” James assured, receiving a skeptical look from Remus. “Really it is! I was gonna tell him anyways, besides now we get to celebrate.” 

And that they did. At the ripe hour of one in the morning, the boys quietly snuck out of the common room and into the kitchen.

“Hello boys, what can I make for you today” 

“Libsy!” The boys chorused together, excited to see their favorite house-elf. 

“Load us up!” Sirius said, slightly too loud for how late it was. “We’re celebrating.” As per usual, Libsy and the rest of the house-elves happily got to work preparing a round of butterbeer and a variety of snacks.

With the weight lifted from James’ shoulders, the boys rejoiced and laughed. For the first time in a while, James felt wholly himself and like he had not a care in the world. It seemed that with Spring approaching things could not be better for the Marauders, and with a lull in school work for the coming weeks, the boys had nothing but time to start planning their next prank.


	26. Sick as a Dog

With the transition from Winter to Spring, the weather was anything but consistent and all of the cold and rain was beginning to have an effect on the student body. Weeks prior, several of the older students at Hogwarts had contracted Dragon Pox, which spread fairly quickly. Thankfully, each of the affected students had recovered since then. It seemed as though the Marauders had been the only student who had yet to get sick, at least until now.

“God save you, mate!” Sirius said after James sneezed for the fourth time in a row.

Sniffling as the sneezes seemed to subside, James finally spoke. “Thanks, Sirius,” James said with a laugh, “No idea where all of that came from.”

“Don’t know where it came from?” Remus exclaimed. “You’ve been sick for the past week.”

“Have not!” James yelled. “I’m not even that sick!” As if to disprove his own point, James sneezed again. “Okay, maybe I am a little sick, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Just go to Madame Pomfrey, James,” Remus said with a tired tone. It was clear Remus did not feel up to dealing with James’ arrogance and pride on this particular day. “If you happen to be coming down with something,” James glared at him. “I’m not saying you are sick, but you should go just in case.”

“I’ll get over it in a day or two, I am sure it’s just a cold.” James was an expert at defending his own stupidity, even in the face of clear reason presented by Remus. “Now can we just go! We’re gonna be late for Transfiguration.” 

“James is right,” Sirius said. “We can’t be late for the only class that James is actually passing.”

“Hey!” James exclaimed, laughing as he shoved Sirius playfully. “I’m passing charms.”

“My bad, my bad.” Sirius laughed with him. “But we actually should be going, lunch ends in like four minutes and we’re gonna be late.” Even though they ran, the Marauders still ended up a couple of minutes late.

“We’re sorry Professor, James fell down the stairs and we didn’t think he’d make it this time, but fortunately for you–”

“Just sit boys,” McGonagall removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose exasperatedly. “I’ve heard the same excuse a thousand times, and I’m still waiting for it to be believable.”

“I’m telling you, James is just that clumsy.” Sirius defended, sitting down relieved to not be receiving detention.

“Yes, and I am sure the ghost of Merlin really did tell you to skip class last week, Mister Black,” McGonagall said sarcastically as she recalled some of the other interesting excuses she had received. As the Transfiguration lesson went on, James sneezed fairly often. At one point, after he sneezed several times in a row, Professor McGonagall seemed to finally be fed up. “If you’re going to continue distracting the class, James, you may be excused to go see Madame Pomfrey.”

“I’m fine! I’m hardly sick” James said, even though you could hear the stuffy nose he had in his voice.

“If you say so, Mister Potter.” McGonagall resumed the lesson, and thankfully, James only sniffled for the remainder of the class. Despite all of his friends telling him to go to Madame Pomfrey, it wasn’t until that weekend James finally went to the hospital wing.

“You know what guys, I actually feel a lot better!” James said a few days after going to Madame Pomfrey.

“That’s–” Remus sneezed. “That’s great James!”

“Getting sick Remus?” Sirius teased.

“It’s James’ fault if he hadn’t gotten me sick, then–”

“Woah!” James interjected. “There is no proof that I got you sick.”

“We all know it was you, James,” Sirius said. “You’re the only one who has gotten sick.”

“Just go to the hospital wing, Mooney,” Sirius said. “I’ll walk with you.”

“I was going to go anyways,” Remus said. “I have more sense than James to know that if I am sick and I can fix it, why wouldn’t I go to the hospital wing.” James tried to look angry even though he knew Remus was right. James should have gone to the hospital wing at the first sniffle, but his stupid pride always keeps him from seeking help. 

“Can I go with you guys?” Peter asked quietly. “I feel a little sick too,” he added with a sniffle.

“Of course, Pete!” Sirius said, before turning to James and laughing “Imagine having a weak immune system.”

“You laugh now, but I’m sure you’ll get sick next,” Remus said.

“Doubtful, I never get sick,” Sirius boasted.

“What!” James exclaimed. “You’ve never been sick?” Sirius nodded. “Like ever?” He nodded once more. Shaking his head in disbelief, James sat down. Using this as an exit to the conversation, Remus, Sirius, and Peter made their way to the hospital wing.

“Hello, boys!” Madame Pomfrey cheered. “Feeling sick Remus, It’s a little early isn’t it.”

“Erm,” Remus dragged nervously, “Actually we’re just coming down with something.”

Blushing at her slip, Madame Pomfrey corrected herself. “Ah, I see. Three batches of Cure for the Muggle Cold coming right up!”

“Actually it’s just two, Madame Pomfrey,” Sirius interjected. “I’m not sick.”

“Are you sure you don’t wanna keep it in case you catch something from one of your dormmates?”

“I don't get sick,” Sirius explained. And that may have been true at one point, but in a few days Sirius was just as sick as James had been, and twice as stubborn.

“Bless you!” Remus said as Sirius sneezed, he had been doing that quite often recently. “You sure you’re not sick?”

“I’m not!” Sirius said, wiping his red nose with the back of his hand. “I don’t get sick! Black’s are known for having an impenetrable immune system.” He sneezed again.

“You’re sick, mate,” Remus said with a sigh. “Just go to the hospital wing,” Sirius didn’t seem to be budging. “Please, for me?”

Sirius groaned. “Fine, but I’m only going so you’ll stop nagging on me.”


	27. Library Hours

For the past two weeks now, the Marauders had been hard at work planning their next scheme. For a group of boys who avoided studying like it was the plague, they sure knew how to hunker down and get to work when they were planning something mischievous. Even Madame Pince was getting nervous about how often the boys were frequenting the library. On this particular day, the boys were searching for a specific book that they could not seem to find.

“Looking for something?” John Stebbins walked over to the Gryffindor boys. John was the only other person who seemed to visit the library as often as the boys had been, he was a Ravenclaw boy in their year and was studious to say the very least.

“Who’s asking?” Sirius said, trying to sound intimidating.

“John Stebbins,” he stuck his hand out for Sirius to shake. “Ravenclaw.”

Accepting the handshake, Sirius spoke again. “Well, Stebbins, as a matter of fact, we are looking for a book on a few different topics.” Remus handed over the list as Sirius said, “Think you might be able to help?”

“Sure! There are quite a few books that could help you out there,” The Marauders all exchanged looks of relief, knowing that those books would be crucial to their plan. 

“Great!” James said, “Lead the way.”

“One condition,” The boys paused waiting to hear what John had to say. “You have to leave Ravenclaw alone with whatever you’re planning.”

“Who says we’re planning something,” Remus said, trying to seem innocent.

“Oh please!” John laughed. “I’ve seen what you guys can do, pretty amazing, but after the flying books around the tower earlier this year, I’d rather not have my house be at the receiving end of your pranks. So, deal?”

“Deal!” James affirmed. Leading the boys down a few aisles, John finally stopped in front of a shelf and pulled out several books.

“This should be enough for what you’re trying to do,” John said, gesturing to the stack of books. Thanking the boys, all of them returned to their tables. After about half an hour, James sighed dramatically.

“Is this making sense to anybody else,” He exclaimed. “Because I am completely lost.”

“Nope,” Sirius shut the book he was reading. “I’ve read nearly 40 pages and I haven’t understood a single word.”

“If I look at another diagram for levitation, I’ll go mad,” Remus added.

“Fine!” John said walking up to the table of Marauders. “I’ll help you.”

“Ha,” Sirius scoffed. “There’s no way you could understand any of this nonsense, I feel like I’m trying to decipher ancient runes.”

Not even seeming taken aback by Sirius’ blatant insult John grabbed the book from him. “This actually is ancient runes and it means Partnership.”

“I thought it meant ‘defense’,” Sirius said.

“No, you’re thinking of Eihwaz,” Stebbins said, “This is Ehwaz which means ‘defense’ but I’m sure just anyone would know that.”

“You know, we could use someone like him,” Remus whispered to the table. “He seems to know what he’s doing”

“Alright, Stebbins,” Sirius said. “We might need your help, but you can’t be involved. How do we know you’re not just going to snitch after we finish,” Pulling up a chair John sat with the boys, knowing that whatever they were planning was bound to be good.

For the next few days in a row, the Marauders came every lunch and break to sit and draw out their plan, this prank was gonna be pretty big so they needed every detail to be perfect, and with the occasional help from John, they just might be able to pull it off. This is the longest they had taken to plan a singular prank without any teachers catching on. It was a Saturday, the day they were supposed to unfurl the prank so they were in crunch mode trying to figure out the last-minute details of their plan.

Everything had been going perfectly, the boys had all gotten in place for the first phase of the plan. James was crouched behind a bush waiting for Sirius’ signal when Filch discovered him.

“Exactly what do you think you are doing back here?”

“I… Uh… Well, you see I was actually just about to,” 

“Ah! Save it,” He said as James stood up brushing the dirt and leaves off of himself.

“CODE RED,” James shouted, causing Remus, Peter, and Sirius to emerge from where they had been hiding. Noticing Filch, they all walked over towards James, nervous about what was about to happen.

“Come with me,” Filch ordered. He led the children all the way to Professor McGonagall’s office where she shared a look of disapproval upon seeing the boys with Filch.

“What have the four of you done this time?”

“I caught these hooligans before they could do any damage this time,” Filch boasted.

“Is that so? That is surprisingly good news,” McGonagall admitted.

“So what are you gonna do with ‘em,” Filch inquired.

“I think I will leave their punishment up to you, Argus.” She sighed. ”I’ve had just about enough of these boys for the month.”

“Up to me, eh? Well, in that case, I will see you four tonight for detention”

“What time tonight?” Sirius gritted out, trying his hardest to sound respectful as to not make his punishment worse.

“Midnight, out by the front doors,” Filch said. “And don’t be late you filthy little gremlins!”

“Yes, sir!” Remus said.

“Are we free to go now,” James impatiently said.

“Yes, Mister Potter,” McGonagall said, but don’t go getting yourselves into trouble, you’re in enough hot water as it is.”

“Don’t worry we won’t,” Remus assured ushering the rest of his friends out into the hallway before they said something they would regret.

“Great, that’s just great guys, we’re gonna have to get up tonight and do Merlin knows what.” Sirius groaned.

“Oh please, you’re never asleep by midnight Sirius,” Remus laughed.

“Well, I don’t want to get up!” James exclaimed. “Some of us actually sleep at night.”

“Yeah!” Peter agreed quietly.

“Well, there’s no use complaining now,” Sirius said defeatedly. “There’s no way we’re getting out of detention tonight.”


	28. Up in the Clouds

At a quarter to twelve, the boys headed down to the front door to meet Mr. Filch. The angry caretaker was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the boys and frowned when they finally arrived.

“Took ya long enough,” Filch grumbled.

“We’re five minutes early!” James snapped.

“You’ll do well not to talk back.”

James rolled his eyes, but after a harsh elbow from Remus he relented, “Yes sir.” 

“Good. Now I always like to say that hard work and pain are the best teachers. So, you hooligans will be using some elbow grease to clean up the broom cupboard by the Quidditch Pitch. I want the whole place free of cobwebs and trash and whatever the hell else needs cleaning.” Filch paused ensuring the boys were paying attention to his words. “Whenever you finish you can leave, but if you do a bad job, expect another day’s detention. Got it. ”

Most of the boys grumbled in response, but Remus spoke up on behalf of the Marauders. “Yes sir, we’ve got it.”

“Then go! I’ll be checking on you frequently so no funny business.” Nodding in agreement, the boys trudged up the hill to the broom cupboard and walked in. Peter started coughing.

“Merlins’ beard, there’s so much dust!”

“How the hell are we supposed to clean this up?” Sirius exclaimed. “We don't have any non-magical brooms.”

“I’ll go ask Filch,” Remus sighed before leaving the cupboard in search of Filch. A few minutes later, Remus came back with the supplies they needed. 

“Alright then, let’s get started, we can’t be wasting any time it’s already late enough,” James said.

About an hour later, they had swept the floors and scrubbed the only window on the inside and outside. They noticed that Filch had not checked on them at all since they had started this whole detention and on further inspection, they found out he was asleep on a chair about a kilometer away. 

“He’s not even watching us,” James scowled. 

“You know what that could mean,” Sirius said, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Sirius, no,” Remus said. “Whatever you’re planning, no!”

“Ok, but hear me out,” Sirius said. “We are in a cupboard full of magical brooms with no supervision.”

James had a moment of realization and a similar smile spread on his face, “You’re so right! We should do something.”

“You guys are going to get hurt,” Remus said. “Remember what Madame Hooch always says, brooms are more dangerous than you think.”

“Ok, mum,” James said sarcastically before turning to Sirius and continuing their plans. “If we start now, we can enchant enough of these to cause a ruckus.”

“B- But we’re gonna get caught,” Peter said quietly.

“It’ll be worth it though, think of how fun this will be.”

“Exactly my point,” Sirius said, agreeing with James, “We can’t be in any more trouble than we are now, right?” James and Peter nodded, but Remus was rapidly shaking his head. 

“NO,” Remus exclaimed. “We can get in a lot more trouble. We could- we could be expelled!”

“Oh please, that would never happen,” James said, dismissing the thought with a wave of his hand. The other two looked slightly more uneasy about what Remus said.

“Remus might have a point, what if we are going to get caught, there’s no way around it. It’s nearly three in the morning and we’re the only ones awake.”

“Okay,” James said dragging out the letters, “But chances are McGonagall will catch us and–”

“And she’ll kill us,” Remus filled in.

“Not what I was gonna say, Mooney,” James bit back. “If it's her, then we can definitely talk our way out of it. You know she loves us.”

“James is right,” Sirius said slowly. “We don’t get in half as much trouble as we should. I’m sure we can avoid being expelled. Besides what’s a few more detentions.”

“You really think we can get around being expelled,” Remus said in disbelief. “Maybe you guys are willing to risk that, but I can’t leave Hogwarts.” Sirius seemed to think over what Remus said, worry etched on his face as he sat for a minute.

“I’ll… um,” Remus was trying to mend the friendship before they got too upset. “I’ll keep watch, but I don’t want to get on a broom or anything.”

“Sounds good,” James agreed. “You still in, Sirius?”

“Yeah!” Sirius tried to sound excited, but his tone was obviously fake, however, James ignored that detail and moved forward with the plan.

In merely an hour, the boys had the entire plan worked out, James, Sirius, and Peter mounted brooms while Remus worked on enchanting the rest of the brooms to fly along with his friends. It didn’t take very long, as Remus had become quite proficient in this spell when they were preparing for the failed prank, so soon enough they were ready. The uneasy feeling had not quite left Remus’ stomach, but as per usual he had gotten caught up in the adrenaline and smiles from his friends so he pressed on. When everything was floating off to its desired location, Remus switched to stay watching Filch and prepared to send up sparks should he catch on to the plan.

Everything went according to plan, in the absolute worst ways, and just as all their previous pranks ended they were now in Professor McGonagall’s office.

“What could have possibly possessed you to think of something as idiotic as this?” the professor's voice was raised and the boys knew they were in for it this time.

“We, um–” James started.

“I’m not finished, Mister Potter!” McGonagall’s shrill voice cut in and she took a deep breath before she preceded, calming herself for a moment. “You could have been seriously injured. Did that thought occur to you? Of course, by now you must think you’re indestructible. Well, take this as a much-needed reality check as it seems you need one. This offense is punishable by expulsion, did you know that before you schemed this plan?” 

She had paused, but even then the boys took a moment to figure out if it was safe to speak. “We didn’t know that,” James admitted. Despite the idea having been brought up, none of the boys seriously thought it was a risk, even Remus used the notion as more of a threat and not a serious thought.

“Of course you didn’t know that, how could you, half of your class and study time is taken up by this foolish pranking you have been doing. I am severely disappointed in all of you, I expect better from all of you. I know you are smart, so start using those intelligent minds to make better decisions. Okay?”

“Yes ma’am,” They all said, heads hung in shame, there was silence until Sirius finally spoke up.

“So you’re not going to expel us?” Sirius asked hesitantly, almost as if he did not want the answer. 

She sighed, “No, I am not.” The boys all sighed in relief, glad to know that their years had Hogwarts hadn’t ended before they had even really begun. “But,” She continued. “That is not to say you will be going without punishment.” The boys looked nervous, but they were not surprised, it would take a miracle to allow them to leave completely punishment free. 

“Lay it on us,” Sirius said.

“A month’s detention for each of you and 50 points will be deducted from Gryffindor from each of you. Additionally, each of your brooms is being sent home, I will be speaking to Headmaster Dumbledore soon, it seems we might need to reassess who is allowed to have a broom on campus.”

“Sent Home?” Sirius said nervously.

“Yes, Mister Black, sent home with a note from myself or Professor Dumbledore. You may all be excused.” She sat down symbolizing the conclusion of their discussion, the boys began collecting their things. “One more thing,” McGonagall said. “Ask Remus how he’s doing when you get back to the dorm.”

“I’m sure Remus is just fine, professor,” James said, anger creeping into his voice.

Back at the dorm, James, Peter, and Remus entered. James, shutting the door rather harshly behind him spoke first, “What the hell, Remus! Why would you ditch us out there.”

“I told you I wanted no part of this, I can’t be expelled you don’t understand.”

“Well lucky for you, we aren’t being expelled, no thanks to you. And I think I understand perfectly, you don’t give a rats arse about us and it shows,” Sirius yelled.

“You know that’s not true, Sirius! Don’t even try saying I don’t care. I just can’t risk leaving Hogwarts and I got scared.” Tears started in his eyes, but he turned away from the others. “I’m going to bed, we can talk in the morning.”

“Oh, we’ll talk alright!” Sirius started, but James put a hand on his shoulder.

“Give it a rest, mate. We can deal with this tomorrow after you get some sleep.”


	29. Sleepy Warmth of Summer Nights

Spring had begun a mere three days ago and Hogwarts had never looked more beautiful. Flowers bloomed everywhere and the feel of magic in the air kept the whole place feeling alive. This was the exact type of weather in which Lily Evans shined. Unfortunately, something else was plaguing her mind on this day.

“I just don’t know what to do,” The sadness in her tone was infectious and Severus could not help but feel bad for his best friend.

“She'll turn around,” Severus offered. “I’m sure she will write soon.”

“I highly doubt that. She hates me now.”

“She doesn’t hate you, Lily, she’s just jealous.”

“But I don’t know how to fix that, Sev! How am I supposed to have fun here while Tuney is back home upset with me”

“I am sure, with time, Petunia will get over it eventually. You’re just going to have to give her some time.”

Lily sighed but nodded regardless. “I suppose you’re right.” They continued their walk until Severus stopped dead in his track.

“Look!” Severus said pointing towards a field ahead of them. “It’s daisies!”

“Oh, Severus!” Lily said sweetly. “Do you remember the first time you showed me your magic? After I made that daisy bloom in my palm,” her eyes shone as she stared into the field of flowers remembering that day. 

“As soon as I saw that I knew you were like me. I remember how amazed you were when I told you about the wizarding world. And then you were so happy when you were finally able to understand your magic. I only wish I had noticed before you showed your sister,” Severus trailed off, perhaps regretting mentioning Petunia, but Lily chose not to comment on that.

“Come on, Sev!” Lily shouted, pulling his arm to lead him towards the daisies. Somewhat reluctantly, Snape allowed himself to be pulled into the field and he sat down next to Lily.

“I miss the summer,” Lily sighed. “It was so lovely hanging out in the meadow and by the old tree. It feels like just yesterday we enchanted all of those leaves by the pond.”

“It was pretty amazing how you could do that”

“Oh please, Sev, you cannot give me that much credit.” She paused as she pulled a daisy out of the ground.

“Lily you’re brilliant, who else could I give the credit to?” Lily shrugged so Severus continued. “You are top of the class in nearly everything.”

“That’s not true!” Lily said blushing. “You’re ahead of me in Potions, Remus is ahead in Defense Against the Dark Arts, James”

“Ugh, I do not want to talk about James. He’s such a pompous arse.”

“Trust me, Sev, I know, but you cannot deny he’s exceptional in Transfiguration. Even McGonagall admits that and I’m sure she cannot stand him.”

“With all the pranks they pull,” Severus said. “I’m surprised they’re even still here.”

“They almost got expelled last week,” Lily’s tone was slightly too nonchalant given the subject matter. “Remus told me the day after it happened”

“Can’t imagine he was too happy about it,”

“Actually, he wasn’t involved.”

“Really?” Severus mused, “I know he hates the pranks and all, but he usually takes the fall with the rest of those idiots.”

“It was a bit more complicated than that,” Lily grabbed another daisy to add to the flower crown she was making. “It was a bit tense between them, that’s why Rem sat with me for most of last week.”

“I assume they’ve all made up by now,” Severus pressed.

“Oh of course,” Lily said, slightly shocked that Severus even felt the need to ask that. “I mean after a few days, when Sirius and James were properly calmed down, they all talked it out. Now they’re back to normal, except the rest of them are still working off their detentions and...” Lily trailed off as her focus was diverted towards the flower crown she had now finished. “Here!” She handed the delicate flower crown to Severus. 

“You should wear it, Lily. You made it after all.”

“Oh please,” Lily placed the crown on his head. “I’ll make another one,” she said, pulling another daisy out of the ground. “I want to keep talking.”

“Don’t you have flying lessons?” Severus said, not wanting Lily to get in trouble.

“I’ll tell Madame Hooch, I am not feeling well.” Severus did not look convinced. “It’ll be fine, Sev,” Lily reassured. 

“If you say so,” Severus laughed easily, feeling slightly relieved that he could continue talking to Lily. “You know this kind of reminds me of the one night when you absolutely refused to go home for dinner. I thought your mother was going to kill me when I finally brought you back.”

“I told you I should have just walked back alone.”

“It was dark, Lily!” Severus exclaimed. “I could not just let you walk all the way home alone.”

“Walking from the meadow home is not that bad of a walk, I’ve done it nearly a thousand times.”

“It’s a matter of principle.”

“Wow,” Lily joked. “What a gentleman, and yet you refused to come over for dinner when I invited you.”

“I didn’t think your family would like me. I know your sister wouldn’t,”

“Please my parents would have loved you, just promise you’ll visit during the summer?” Lily held out her pinky for Severus to shake, he did so happily.

“Promise.”

“Now you’ve got to keep the promise, Severus.”

“I’m not the one who has trouble keeping promises,” Severus laughed. “As I recall you are the one who went and got sorted into Gryffindor.”

“It’s not like I asked for it, Sev, but in all honesty, I like it in Gryffindor. I just wish you could be here with me.”

“Me? In Gryffindor? It’s bad enough Sirius was sorted there.”

“What’s so bad about Sirius being in Gryffindor?” Lily was genuinely curious, she still did not know much about the wizarding world.

“Well, Sirius’ family is pureblood. Everyone in his family tree was in Slytherin, so it was quite the scandal when he was sorted into Gryffindor.” 

“Why does it matter though, just because his parents are both wizards.”

“You just don’t understand, Lily” Severus sighed. “Blood purity is pretty important in our magical history.”

“Well, it shouldn’t!” Lily was getting angry. “That seems so pointless, Gryffindor is just as good as Slytherin is.”

“It’s a little bit more complicated than that.” The conversation trailed off and they sat in silence until Lily finished her own flower crown.

“Finished!” She said with a smile. “Oh gosh, what time is it?”

“I dunno, but I think it’s about time we head up for dinner.”

“Yeah, I’m probably going to skip out on dinner tonight. Besides I am supposed to be sick, right?”

“You should still eat something,” Severus insisted.

“I’ll meet you in the kitchen later then, how about midnight?” 

“Perfect”


	30. Just a Little Help

In usual Marauder fashion, they had already made up from their previous fight. Additionally, James, Sirius, and Peter had already worked off their punishments and the points they lost were nearly gained back, largely in thanks to Lily Evans’ exceptional in-class skills. The only disappointment to come out of the whole fight was the announcement Dumbledore made the next day at dinner.

“In light of recent events, no first-year students will be permitted to bring a broom to school, effective at the start of next term,” Professor Dumbledore had said. Luckily, no one knew for sure that the Marauders were behind this new rule, but they were fairly certain than everyone suspected them.

With their past prank well past them, the Marauders’ focus shifted towards April Fools Day. This was the third day in a row they had been holed up in the library working. The ever-present John Stebbins kept a watchful eye on them, but the boys continuously denied his help.

As they grabbed book after book and sketched hundreds of diagrams, the plan was very slowly coming together, but things were not working out as well as they had hoped. Perhaps it was just their stubbornness, but the boys refused to stop researching until they had figured everything out; never exiting the library, unless they had a class or it was a curfew. 

Peter took to going from the Great Hall to the library delivering food to keep the boys satiated. It was a way for him to feel helpful, as he was not very proficient in pranking and the boys were extremely thankful to Peter for this. It seemed, however, those trips to collect food also put some suspicion on the boys.

“What are you up to in here?” Professor McGonagall inquired. Scrambling to cover the most incriminating graphs and diagrams, the boys were flustered. 

“Professor McGonagall!” Sirius said, a little too loud for the library. “We were just- um…”

“Studying,” John Stebbins finished the sentence and dropped some books on the table.

“Yeah, we– what?” James stared at John in confusion.

“They were… studying,” the Professor was trying to piece together the situation. “What subject, pray tell?”

“Herbology,” John said with confidence, holding up a book on plants to solidify the lie.

“We have a big test next week,” Remus said, going along with the lie.

“Yes!” James agreed. “And Stebbins here has been helping us prepare for it.”

“He has?” McGonagall seemed to be at a loss for words. Her intuition told her they were up to something, but it was so clear that this was an innocent study group given the facts. “Well in that case,” she finally said. “Please continue, and John?” 

“Yes?”

“Keep them out of trouble, will you?”

“Of course Professor,” John said, it was becoming clear that he was an exceptionally good liar. McGonagall gave a curt nod and left, leaving the boys to collectively sigh in relief.

“Merlin's beard! That was close,” Sirus said, laughing a little. 

“Yeah,” James agreed. “You really saved our arses, Stebbins.”

“Just wanted to make sure your plans weren’t ruined before they even started. I’m actually very excited to see what you guys are doing for April Fools day”

“I told you we could trust him,” Remus said quietly to the table. “We owe you one, John.” It seemed Remus was the only one who preferred to call John by his forename as compared to his surname.

“It’s no trouble really,” John said grabbing the Herbology books he dropped on the table. 

“While you’re here,” Sirius said with a smirk. “Want to help us a bit?”

“Yeah! We’re having a bit of trouble with hat charm to use for this prank” James elaborated.

“Okay, well sure.” John smiled and pulled a chair from a nearby table over and sat down. “What’s the issue?”

“This spell is going to need to reach the entire school, but we’re unsure of how to adapt it for the large scale.” John’s eyes swept over the notes and sketches that were in front of him.

“You’re going to need all hands on deck for this one, it cannot be just one of you or you will never pull it off.” He moved some papers and read the page with the incantation. “As far as adjusting the words for the large scale, you just need to change unus to omnis and it should work fine, however, I would test that before you try it because I am also a first-year student if you guys have forgotten.” John laughed.

Sirius was scribbling notes down, his growing hair falling in his face. “Got it, anything else we missed. We have a bad habit of missing things. We have been staring at these plans for several days now.”

“Everything else looks good,” John paused for a second and lowered his volume. “You guys are barking, you know that right.”

“I thought you liked our pranks, Stebbins?” Jame said sarcastically.

“I do, but I’ve never seen anyone pull off anything this bold.” 

“Luckily for you,” Sirius said, throwing an arm around the smaller Ravenclaw boy. “This is only the beginning.” He threw in a cheeky grin for extra measure before removing his arm. “Now, we better get back to work, April Fools is soon.”

“He’s right,” James said. 

“And he’s never right so we should probably listen.” Remus laughed.

“That’s harsh, Mooney. Even for you,” Sirius joked back.

“Mooney?” John asked, confused about the nickname.

“Oh! Of course, you wouldn’t know, Stebbins,” Sirius smiled. “Mooney is my nickname for Remus here because his name is ridiculous. In Latin his name is basically ‘Wolf McWolf’ isn’t that ridiculous?”

“I guess that is pretty funny.”

“Oh Merlin, don’t feed his ego, John.” Remus groaned.

“Don’t be coy, you love my nicknames,” Sirius said.

“No comment,” Remus deadpanned. “Let’s get back to the prank,” he laughed, pulling up a sketch of the plan.

“Boys,” Madame Pince said, fairly loudly. “Not only are you far too loud, but you have fifteen minutes to pack up your things and go before the library closes.”

“Shit!” Sirius muttered as he gathered all of the loose parchment into a pile and collected the scattered quills to put in his bag.

“I’ll go put up these books, Rem can you go check out those four.” He made a stack of his books in a hurry. “Oh, and Peter!” he half-shouted to get the boy’s attention. “Go bring back the platter to the kitchen, I’d hate for the house elves to have to come all the way up here.”

“Sure thing!” Peter scurried off with the remnants of their snacks. John was nearly dizzy watching the boys run their separate ways, working together like a finely tuned machine. Once they had all done their tasks they regrouped in front of the library.

“Thank you for your help, Stebbins,” James was sincere.

“No problem, I hope this goes well. I mean after all the work you put in, how could it not.”

“I hope so too!” Peter interjected quietly, and with that, the boys left in the opposite direction of Stebbins in pursuit of Gryffindor Tower. They were in for quite the restless night as they were so excited about the prank finally coming together.


	31. April Fools

The planning had been completed, but the hard part had not even started. It was finally April First and it seemed that Professor McGonagall was bracing for the worst as she cast several worried glances towards the boys throughout the hour.

Very fortunately, for the Marauders at least, the first of April was a Saturday this year. As such, they could get the entire prank set up away from the watchful eyes of the professors and prefects. They had even managed to not pass any teachers in the hour beforehand, this being for the best because Peter had a terrible poker face when it came to their professors. 

“Okay guys, are we ready?” James saw fit to ‘rally the team’ before they began their biggest prank ever attempted.

“I was born ready,” Sirius said with a laugh, “Let’s just get on with it.”

“Remus, Peter?”

“I’m ready, James. Not like I can chicken out now.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Sirius muttered under his breath.

“Do you really want to start with this now?” Remus shouted incredulously. 

“Knock it off you two!” James scolded. “We need to be one hundred percent focused so put off your little quarrel for a few hours okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius said.

“Didn’t even wanna talk about it in the first place, so yeah.” Remus agreed still holding his sarcastic tone.

“Great then I think we’re all ready.” James spread out a piece of parchment with the finalized plan. “Ok Remus and Peter you’re going here,” James pointed to the x on the paper. “Me and Sirius”

“Sirius and I,” Remus corrected.

“Are gonna be here,” James stuck his tongue out at Remus symbolizing the fact he was ignoring the correction. 

“And remember what Stebbins said about the word change,” Sirius added. “If we screw this up then we’ll most likely be caught and we won’t have even made an impact beforehand.” The Marauders all nodded their heads, agreeing on the details, and moving to start the plan. Unlike last time, they were not caught by Mr. Filch and the incantation worked. 

For possibly the first time in Hogwarts history, pure chaos ensues. The incantation in question would cause a person to only be able to speak gobbledegook, the language of the goblins. This wasn’t nearly enough, however, and together the four boys had hexed the entire school, including themselves.

It was not that the boys wanted a taste of their own medicine, but it seemed like the best option for two reasons. Firstly, it would take a little bit of suspicion off of them; after all, who would hex themselves. Secondly, the boys could not seem to make the spell work for the whole school while still excluding themselves. Regardless of their abilities, or lack thereof, it had been decided that they must also be subject to the spell.

Immediately after the spell took effect, the Marauders ran towards the Whomping Willow. This was the place they had decided upon earlier and was just about as far as they could get from where the incantation was said. Once they had all arrived, standing a safe distance away from the tree to avoid its wrath, they celebrated. While their exclamations might have been in a different language, they understood each other pretty clearly.

Letting out heaving breaths, still a little tired from all the sprinting. The boys began walking towards the courtyard where an abundance of students was loudly arguing. Entering into the crowd they tried their best to look inconspicuous.

In mere seconds, a very flustered Minerva McGonagall emerged from the castle with a concerned Professor Flitwick. The latter went around to see a few students, being a part goblin himself he could understand what the kids were saying, but with all the frantic yelling he could not figure what happened. 

Professor Dumbledore finally walked out to the courtyard and at the sight of him, most of the students calmed down. Chuckling quietly to himself the headmaster turned to smile at Professor McGonagall, however, she did not find the situation funny. 

Dumbledore pressed his wand to his neck and used the Sonorus Charm to make his voice louder “Finite Incantatem” and with the counterspell uttered, everyone was able to speak proper English again. Before losing control of the student body, Dumbledore said, “Will the students responsible please come forward before the end of the day. Rest assured we will figure out who it was so you may as well turn yourselves in. That is all.” Dumbledore smiled and returned to the castle, presumably to go to his office.

“Attention!” Professor McGonagall’s shrill voice cut in. “Should any students have lasting effects from either the spell or counterspell please go to Madame Pomfrey immediately.” She then made eye contact with the Marauders through the crowd. She did not say anything, but the boys knew what the look meant: Turn yourselves in.

After some serious debate, the boys found themselves outside Dumbledore’s office. A large gargoyle statue stood in front of them. 

“Periwinkle,” Remus said. The password caused the Gargoyle to turn revealing a spiral staircase.

“H-How’d you know the password?” James asked.

“Maybe I’m just smarter than you,” Remus laughed. “Now come on let’s go!”

Much like the headmaster’s personality, there were many nicknacks and odd details scattered about his office. 

“Well boys, I cannot say I’m not impressed.”

“Um… Pardon?” Remus said confused.

“The display of magic you showed today was nothing short of impressive, especially considering you are all first years. I imagine this took a lot of planning?”

“Yes sir, it did,” James piped in. 

“Nearly a full week,” Sirius added.

“Well that is some impressive dedication, unfortunately, it cannot go without punishment. However, I found this entire prank of yours quite good so I have decided to just give you all a detention. It will be tomorrow afternoon with Mister Filch. Any questions?”

In mostly stunned silence, the boys shook their heads. Walking back to the common room they could not believe their luck with how easy they had gotten off with this punishment.


	32. In These Woods

The detention came in the form of working in the woods under Filch’s watchful eye. Unlike the last time, they were nowhere near the broom cupboard, but instead, they were near the edge of the Forbidden Forest. 

“Seeing as I am already sick of you four, I am leaving you in the hands of Hagrid, our groundskeeper, however, should you boys attempt something like the last time, I will be right back, and I don’t think you will enjoy that. Any questions?” The boys shook their heads in slight annoyance. Seemingly pleased by that, Filch retreated to allow Hagrid to take over.

“Hello ‘ere!” The groundskeeper was in his mid-forties but towered above the boys. Despite his rather large stature, the man was far from intimidating and his excited tone did not quite fit the current circumstances. “You four’re going to come with me to get plants for Pr’fessor Sprout. Particularly we’re looking for nettle.” 

“Doesn’t nettle sting you,” Remus asked.

“Well, yes, but I’ve got ye some gloves to put on,” Hagrid patted around in his pockets, pulling several miscellaneous things before finally a few pairs of dragonhide gloves. “Ere ya go!” He passed them out to the boys.

“We oughta split inter two groups an’ cover more ground. Who ‘ants to go off alone?”

“I’ll go,” Sirius said trying to keep a confident tone, but you could hear a tremor in his tone. “I’m not scared, but one of you better come with!” He sent a pleading look to his friends in the hopes one would follow his lead.

Remus laughed, “I’ll go with you, mate.” He did not seem scared in the slightest and that fact kind of got on Sirius’ nerves. Nevertheless, he was thankful for the support.

“Great! You can go ‘eft and we’ll ‘ead right” With that, the boys pulled their gloves on and headed in their respective directions.

Once they were into the forest, Sirius finally spoke.“Maybe this is a bad time to ask, but what exactly does nettle look like?”

“Sirius!” Remus shouted. “Are you absolutely joking, we’ve been walking for 20 minutes and you don’t even know what we’re looking for!”

“Well I did want to bother Hagrid and I figured you would get mad at me. Apparently I was right.” Sirius laughed.

“You’re ridiculous,” Remus shook his head. “The stems are rather thin, and the eaves are dark green and its got notched edges. Also, it’ll sting you when you touch it. That help?”

“Er, yeah it does. Thanks,” Sirius muttered. They continued walking, but could not find the plant.

“I’m starting to think Filch sent us in here on some wild goose chase just to mess with us.”

“Let’s not give up yet,” Remus chided. They looked some more, attempting to keep focused before a loud snap was heard.

“What the hell was that!” Sirius moved towards Remus looking around wildly.

“I dunno, we probably stepped on a branch.”

“Mooney, this is serious!”

“I know you’re Sirius, I think we’re a bit past introductions.”

“Remus,” Sirius slapped his arm trying to get him to stop joking.

“Calm down, Sirius. I’m sure it was just a ferret or something. Now can we keep going?”

Taking a deep breath, Sirius relaxed. “Yeah, we can go.” As they pushed through some of the plant overgrowths, they came into a clearing. In this clearing, there was an abundance of nettle in clumps spread about. “Finally! We’ve been searching for ages.”

“You’re dramatic. I doubt its been much longer than an hour. Now come on we’ve got to get as much of this as we can.” Plucking the plants and placing as many as they could into the bags, the boys resolved to also carry a few by hand.

“Bet that James and Pete don’t have half as many as us.”

“They’ve got Hagrid, they probably have double,” Remus deadpanned.

Sirius took his usual cheeky tone, “Well, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” 

“Whatever, let’s just head back before we get lost.”

“Right, which was is back to Hogwarts?”

Remus pointed to the left of them, “Definitely that way.”

“Are you sure, because I thought it was that way,” Sirius pointed behind where they stood, he paused for a moment before shaking his head in resolve. “You know, you’re probably right Remus, besides if we get hopelessly lost we can always send up sparks.”

“Yeah, let’s get going. It’s probably near midnight now.” The pair trudged along through the woods and eventually exited near Hagrid’s hut. “Good thing I picked the right direction.”

“Hey! ‘Elcome back,” Hagrid praised.

“We found a whole bunch in a little clearing,” Remus said. He handed the bags over to the groundskeeper.

“A clearing, eh? Yer must’ve been pretty far out then. Maybe that’s what took yer so long.”

“I guess, how long have you guys been back?” 

“Not too long,” Peter said sweetly.

“Quarter of an hour, probably,” James elaborated.

“Sorry for holding you guys up,” Remus said sincerely.

“Nonsense, its no trouble at all, but yer better ‘ead on back. It is pretty late now.” The boys nodded and Filch escorted them back to the castle. Probably to make sure they went to their dorm and not anywhere else. Back in their room, the boys flopped down on their beds.

“I call the shower!” James shouted, making a beeline for the door. Remus and Peter groaned knowing they would be in for a long night.

“I got second!” Sirius shouted.

“No,” Remus complained. “You take forever in there.”

“Too bad, I called it,” Sirius said proudly.

“Fine, but you better be quick, I’d like to actually sleep tonight.”

“Um, Remus?” Peter said, walking over to his bed. “Could I maybe, hop in before you? I promise I’ll be super quick and then you can go.”

Peter’s ramblings were cut off by Remus’ calm tone. “Of course, Pete. I know you’re usually not up this late.”

“Okay, thank you,” Peter mumbled scurrying back to his bed. Remus sighed, he was happy to help out a friend, but he knew that it was going to be a late-night for him.


	33. April Showers

Spring was usually a lovely time at Hogwarts, but April was the exception. Nearly the entire month was clouded with rain. Usually, the students did not mind the rain, but today, the boys were near rioting.

“What! We have to go outside, we have flying lessons,” Madame Hooch sighed, she was far too used to Sirius’ antics.

“I understand, Mister Black, but due to the weather, we’re just going to have to go inside.”

“We have Quidditch games when it rains, how is this different?” James backed up Sirius, he always did.

“Yes, but those students are exceptionally good at flying if you all were on the team maybe things would be different.”

“Oh come on, it can’t be that hard to fly in rain,” Sirius scoffed.

“Well, you are free to test that theory,” The coach said, “On your own time.”

“Okay fine,” James groaned in agreement. “So are we free to go?”

“Merlin, no!”

“But, I thought the class was canceled?” Sirius cut in.

“I said that we couldn’t go outside, not that we couldn’t learn.” The boys looked at her with confusion. “We’re having a technical lesson, so all of you can head to the Great Hall.” The latter half of her statement was directed towards the entire class.

With a defeated sigh, the boys walked into the building. Filing into the Great Hall and taking a seat at the front of the Hufflepuff table where most of the other students were already seated. Once everyone was settled, and mostly quiet, Madame Hooch cleared her throat to gain the attention of the students.

“Now I know some of you are very upset that we cannot be outside for today’s lesson,” she looked to where the Marauders were sitting. “However, I hope you will still pay attention as technical information is just as important as the physical practice is.” The boys rolled their eyes in response earning a disapproving look from Lily Evans.

“Many of you from magical families have been flying since you can remember, but never learned the magical properties of the broom. Broomsticks have quite a few magical spells cast on them. These spells help with direction, altitude, keeping the broom steady, and preventing injury. While we are free to enjoy these innovations, others were not so lucky. The original brooms were uncomfortable and very hard to control, the only real upside was that they were rather discreet which helped keep magic a secret from the Muggles.”

Lily raised her hand and Sirius leaned across the table to high-five her. Luckily for Sirius, their professor did not notice. “Miss Evans, you have a question?”

“Um yes, historically speaking, how did people attain brooms?” Lily paused. “I only mean because companies like Cleansweep weren’t around yet”

“Excellent question!” Madame Hooch praised. “Back in those times, witches and wizards would make their own brooms. Unfortunately, this also meant that brooms were only as safe as the wizard was powerful. This had lead to many injuries during and after flying because-”

“After flying?” James interjected. “Why would they be injured afterward.”

“Don’t interrupt, Mister Potter, but since you asked. A lot of the trouble with old brooms came not while flying, but by landing. With the minimal spells protecting the broom and rider, many brooms sufficed for flying, but there was no way to land without crashing. Additionally, the Cushioning Spell, which is standard on all brooms now, had not been invented yet so riding the broom was not comfortable.”

“Evans said the same thing to me the other day actually,” Sirius whispered, but not quietly enough to avoid Lily hearing.

“Sod off, Black. You’re absolutely revolting!” She snapped.

“Not what you said–”

“Black! If you say last night, I will hex you into next year.”

“Well isn’t that harsh, Lily I thought we had a connection.”

“Something you want to share with the class, Mister Black?”

“Actually yes!” Sirius exclaimed standing up. You could tell in her eyes that Madame Hooch ever regretted saying that, but she had no chance to interject before Sirius stood on the table to shout. “I just wanted to say, while I have your attention, Lily Evans is looking lovely today.”

“MISTER BLACK!” their professor exclaimed.

“Well you asked, Madame Pince,” Sirius grinned as Madame Hooch sighed, she knew she couldn’t ethically give him a punishment because she did technically provoke the outburst. Sirius sat down, feeling proud of himself, but the smile faded as Lily hit his arm.

“I cannot believe you said that!” She whispered loudly.

“Shhh,” Sirius mocked. “You’re making me miss the lesson.”

“As I was saying,” Madame Hooch continued. “Since the brooms brought on a certain level of discomfort, wizards became distracted and often crashed. So next time you are flying, be thankful for Elliot Smethwyck, the inventor of the Cushioning Charm, and also be thankful you were not born before 1820.” She stifled a laugh, but the students did not seem to get the joke. “Well it seems that our class is over, you are all dismissed.” 

Not wanting to wait any further, the students fled the Great Hall, pushing past each other to go to their desired locations. Unfortunately for Lily, the Marauders decided to go to the common room as well. 

“I have a bone to pick with you!”

“Whatever for, Evans?” Sirius said, feigning innocence.

“Can’t you be serious for once in your life!”

“I’ve been Sirius my entire life, was that not enough?”

“You’re impossible!” She screamed.

“Lily?” Marlene said, walking down the stairs from her dorm. “Something wrong? I heard you yelling.”

“Could you tell Sirius to kindly sod off?” Lily shouted.

“I hardly think you need my assistance for that,” Marlene insisted before turning to Sirius. “Calm down a bit, yeah? You can bother Lily tomorrow after she’s calmed down.”

“Sure, but only for you Marlene,” Sirius joked, but actually stayed true to his word. Seemingly happy with the newfound silence, Lily sighed before going upstairs.

“What did you do this time, Sirius?” Marlene asked, amused.

“Absolutely nothing, Evans is just overdramatic!” Sirius defended.

“He proclaimed his love for her while standing on a table during flying lessons,” Remus interjected.

“Wow, I get sick for one day and you pull that stunt!” Marlene laughed. “You’re lucky she didn’t hex you, I’m half of her impulse control.”

“Oh she threatened it, don’t worry, but she would never. Imagine if Little Miss Perfect got detention, she’d ruin her record”

“She’d be just like us,” James laughed.

“Detention or not, Lily is nothing like you.”


	34. Bring May Flowers

Fortunately, it was finally May and the rain at Hogwarts cleared up, which meant the Slytherin versus Hufflepuff game would be clear and warm. The nice weather meant that Hogwarts students of all ages hurried to flood the stands, fighting with their house members to get the best seats.

The Marauders came a whole hour before the game started which meant they had a front-row seat to all the action. It also meant that the boys got to see the strange pre-game preparation the two teams participated in.

The Hufflepuffs, in particular, sat in a circle for around thirty minutes in a deep conversation. Of course, they were too far away to know, but the boys assumed that they were talking about strategies or doing some general team bonding, they were Hufflepuffs after all. Conversely, the Slytherins spent all their time before the game warming up fully and practicing different sweeps and dives on their brooms in preparation for the game. It was all very interesting to the boys, especially James and Sirius who were still hoping for spots on the Gryffindor team next year. Peter feigned interest, but it seemed as though he only pretended to care to stay involved in the conversation with the others. 

As the game was mere minutes from starting and the stands were full with excited students and teachers, their announcer finally began testing the microphone. This year, the announcer was a 7th year Ravenclaw student named Cynthia Lonawey. Her being in her last year at Hogwarts also meant that the position would be open for next year. As such, other students had been taking turns doing trial runs to see if they would be a good fit. However, since there were only two more games left in the season, Cynthia was set to announce both of them.

“HELLOOOO STUDENTS!!” Cynthia shouted from her stand. “I hope you are ready for what I am sure is going to be a riveting match today between Hufflepuff and Slytherin!” 

Madame Hooch walked out in the center of the field with the Quidditch balls and the two teams circled around them. After the two team captains shook hands they all mounted their brooms to get ready to fly. With the quaffle tossed up, everyone moved into action going their separate ways.

“Alright boys, let’s place our bets now,” Sirius said, a little too loudly to be polite. “James you first!”

“Two galleon says Slytherin wins, they’re just better trained, I mean not as good as Gryfinndor, but definitely better than them.”

“Interesting, James!” Remus said. “I guess I’ll place a bet too.”

“Woah! Mooney is actually participating for once,” Sirius joked. “How much can I put you down for?”

“One galleon says Hufflepuff wins,” Remus said confidently.

“What makes you so sure?” James asked. “Unless you’re just guessing.”

“Well, Hufflepuff has better focus and teamwork, plus they totally crushed Ravenclaw last month.”

“I guess that’s a fair point,” Sirius said. “You in, Pete?”

“Um… no thank you,” Peter looked nervous. “Maybe next time,” he added in case his friends would be mad, but none of them seemed to care all that much.

“Sure thing,” Sirius said, marking it down in his books. “I’m placing a galleon on Slytherin winning as well.” Remus laughed, he seemed strangely sure that Hufflepuff was going to win.

“Placing bets I see,” Lily interrupted. 

“Yes indeed, Evans,” James said. “And we don’t want to hear your lecture on how rude that is. Trust me, we already–”

“I wasn’t going to give you a lecture,” She retorted. “I want in.”

“You surprise me every day, Evans,” Sirius remarked, writing her name in the book. “Minimum bet is a galleon, that ok?”

“Sure thing! I’ll put two galleons down in favor of Hufflepuff,” she smiled.

“Wow both you and Remus are gonna be losing some money, but who am I to complain.” Sirius laughed.

“Don’t be so cocky, Sirius! It’s not flattering.”

“Oh no,” Sirius pretended to be upset. “And you know I value your opinion so much, Evans.”

“Merlin,” She sighed in response. “Will you shove off, I’m trying to pay attention to the game.” Turning their attention to the game in progress, the boys noted that the score currently had Slytherin in the lead by 30 points.

“In a brilliant move from the chaser Thomas Ashbalne, Hufflepuff now has the quaffle.” The Hufflepuff stands were enveloped in noise as they all screamed in support of their team. “Ooh! With an impressive hit from the Hufflepuff beater, Ashbalne stays safe from the bludger. Better luck next time, Slytherin! And Hufflepuff scores! It is now Hufflepuff 30, Slytherin 50” It was Cynthia’s inflection which made her particularly interesting to listen to. “What’s that over there? It appears the Slytherin seeker has spotted the snitch! If she is successful Slytherin will beat Hufflepuff with a shocking 170 point lead. There goes the Hufflepuff seeker he’s trying to close the gap. The two seekers are neck and neck; this is gonna be a close one guys,” an uproar in the stands told the students what had happened before Cynthia had the chance to. “It seems the Hufflepuff seeker pulled ahead! With a final score of 180 to 50, HUFFLEPUFF WINS!”

Sure enough, the Hufflepuff seeker did a victory lap around the pitch, the golden snitch grasped firmly in his hand.

“Damnit!” James cursed, knowing he now owed money to both Remus and Lily.

“Oh for Merlin’s sake, stop smirking,” Sirius frowned at Remus.

“Not my fault you put your money in the wrong spot,” Remus shrugged.

“Oh come on, you have to know something I don’t know!” Sirius accused. “You’ve got to tell me!”

“Fine, but you still owe me money,” Remus said calmly.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Well, Lily and I were talking the other day, and she was telling me about a conversation she had with Severus last week.”

Lily jumped in to fill in more details, “Sev accidentally let slip that the Slytherin seeker broke his broom last week, because of that he was using one of the school brooms.”

“And as you all have learned since your brooms were all sent home, the school brooms are the worst. That’s why I placed my bet on Hufflepuff; if your seeker is bad you basically have no chance.”

“I was thinking the same, plus Hufflepuffs’ keeper is super good!”

“Wow, you two are downright devious,” Sirius joked. “But you earned the money fair and square, remind me when I get back to the dorms and I’ll give you it.”

“Trust me, I’ll make sure I get the money you owe me,” Lily laughed, it was nearly imperceptible, but you could see the admiration in James’ eyes at her laugh. “It’s not something you forget easily”


	35. Somewhere That's Green

Not far from the castle, there were several greenhouses located in neat lines. Even though there were quite a few of them, the young first years were only allowed to go into one of them. This rule was in place for good reason though because the plants in the greenhouses for older students were host to much more dangerous threats. However, nestled in their much safer greenhouse was both the Gryffindors and Slytherins. 

Their stout, but cheery professor was bustling around dropping plants in front of each student but telling them not to touch them. “Alright, hopefully, none of you have made the mistake of touching these plants because that would be a decision you would regret,” Professor Sprout said to the class. “Does anyone know what this plant is?” 

Lily’s hand raised almost immediately and Sirius gave her a high five. Perhaps she was annoyed, but she did her best to show that she was not bothered by the prank.

“Ah! Miss Evans?”

“The plant is nettle, it is most commonly known for its stinging properties”

“Correct, five points to Gryffindor!” Professor Sprout praised. “This is why I advised all of you not to touch this plant. That being said, will everyone please put on the gloves I passed out?” She paused watching to ensure everyone followed her instructions. “Great! Now today we will be studying the properties of nettle.”

“Y’know, Evans?” James whispered, tapping Lily on the shoulder to gain her attention. “I collected this nettle myself!” He seemed excessively proud of himself, but that was normal for him.

“You picked it in detention, Potter. Color me unimpressed.” Lily said without hesitation.

“Last name basis, eh?” James smirked.

“You always call me, Evans!” Lily defends.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Frankly, I’m happy you’re turning out more like me. Maybe you’ll loosen up a bit,”

“Get real!” Lily scoffed. “I am nothing like you, James”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Evans”

“I’m not!” Lily’s face was getting red. She couldn’t help it, and because of that anyone who knew her could tell if she was getting upset. Of course, the Marauders loved to get bother Lily and they were never satisfied unless they could get a rise out of her.

“Shhh, Evans!” James mocked. “I’m trying to learn about the properties of nettle.” Lily rolled her eyes because she knew James was lying but figured it was best if she actually paid attention to their professor.

“Funnily enough, another interesting way you can use nettle is to put it into a hair elixir which results in a glossier sheen! I’m sure you guys could find uses for that, I know when I was your age I cared about my hair a great deal.” If Professor Sprout was good at anything, it was getting off-topic. Even in the limited experience the Marauders had, they knew that she would take any available opportunity to go off on a long tangent about her youth or her time at Hogwarts.

Because the boys had become so accustomed to her ramblings, they had discovered when they could get away with talking during class. Now was one of those times; so, as their teacher droned on in the background, James and Sirius began their own discussion.

“Hair gloss, that’s kinda like my grandfather,” James said.

“Really? What’d he do?” Sirius was extremely confused about the connection between the two but eagerly listened as James explained.

“He was a pretty skilled potion maker–”

“Like Snivellus?”

“Better,” James defended. “Or so I’m told. He created this one potion, um… Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, I think that’s what it was called.”

“I’ve heard of that! Yeah, my father used to use it on me before we had guests over, y’know to look presentable and all.”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be the best around, but ironically enough, it’s never really helped my hair.”

“That’s because your hair is hopeless, mate! You’d have to shave it to get it neat.” Sirius laughed, a little too loud, but no one noticed– outside of Lily who shot them a warning look.

“That’s just the problem tho! My hair grows back wicked fast so even when it’s cut it ends up long and shaggy.”

“Somehow I am not surprised,” Sirius admits. “I wish my hair grew faster.”

“It has been getting pretty long though! It’s crazy to think that it was cut so neatly at the beginning of term.”

“Well don’t get used to it, my father will definitely make me cut it when I go home for the summer.”

“Why won’t he just let you grow it out? It’s not that big of a deal,”

“But it is!” Sirius sighed. “I have a legacy to uphold and I’m going to have to spend all summer making up for the disgrace that I am.”

“Don't’ say that! Your family can’t truly think that–”

Sirius cut James off by interjecting, “You heard the letter they sent! A Black? In Gryffindor. It’s basically worse than murder to my parents. I have no idea what they’re going to… ” Sirius trailed off, James had a sinking feeling that whatever the end of the sentence was, was not going to be good.

"Hey," James put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "You know you're welcome at my house anytime. My parents would love to meet you."

Sirius' hand shot up and he was called on by the Professor, "May I be excused to the Hospital Wing? I am suddenly not feeling so well."

"Of course, Mister Black! Can you walk alone or do you need someone to walk with you there?" Sirius shook his head rapidly and dropped his gloves back on the table. Before any of his friends could say anything, his books were collected and he was gone from the greenhouse, the conversation that had happened still playing in James' head.


	36. Cut it Out!

While Sirius was not sick often, when he was, it was pretty bad. The week prior he had faked sick just to get out of class, but the week, he was actually under the weather. Sirius had been running a fever for the past three days and sniffling constantly, and it was getting on his friends’ nerves.

“Good god, mate! Go to the hospital wing if you’re sick!” Remus said.

“I’m not even that si–” Sirius was unable to finish his sentence as he was cut off with a sneeze. “Okay fine! I’ll go after class.”

“You’re going now!” James said exasperatedly. “I’ll walk you.”

“Okay, okay! We can go,” Sirius said. The rest of his friends sighed in relief, happy that their friend was willing to go get help for once. Leading Sirius out of the common rooms, James walked all the way down to the Hospital Wing with his friend. 

“Excuse me?” James shouted. “Madame Pomfrey?”

Emerging from her office, Madame Pomfrey rushed over to the pair. “Hello, boys! Something wrong?” As usual, she was very cheery but noticeably worried as she scanned them for any visible injuries.

“Sirius here is sick, nothing crazy, but he definitely needs to rest.”

Placing a hand on Sirius’ forehead she exclaimed, ”You’re burning up! Might be a case of Dragon Pox?”

“But I’ve already had it!” Sirius whined.

“Well, in that case, it might just be the muggle flu, it’s been going around ever since spring break. My guess is some of the muggle-born students brought it back without knowing.” The nurse must have noticed she had been rambling because she shook her head in an effort to dismiss the conversation. “Ah, but no worry! I’ll get you back to one hundred percent in no time,” She sold the detail with a smile, gesturing to the bed for Sirius to lie down in.

“That’s good news!” James said. “I’ll stop by with Remus and Peter later to catch you up on what you missed.”

“Sounds good,” Sirius said. “But come here I have something to tell you.”

“What?” James asked once he was close enough for Sirius to whisper.

“I need you to make me a promise, okay?”

“Okay,” James agreed with a laugh.

“Every time Evans raises her hand, give her a high-five, just because I’m not there doesn’t mean the prank can’t be.”

“That’s genius!” James exclaimed. “She’ll never see it coming if you aren’t in class.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Sirius said. “Now go before you’re late for class, Merlin knows you cannot afford to get another detention this month.”

“Great! I’ll be back around dinner with updates,” James smiled as he left the hospital wing, heading up to his Defense Against the Dark Arts class before the bell rang.

“How is he?” Remus asked when James finally showed up to class.

“He’s fine, now shove over I want to sit in front of Lily”

“Mate, she doesn’t like you, but fine.” Remus laughed as he moved a seat over to allow James to sit where he was. 

“Glad to see everyone is here!” Professor Ulinzi said. “Wait,” he paused, noticing the empty chair in the room. “Who are we missing?”

“It’s Sirius, Professor,” James said. “He’s in the Hospital Wing. He’s not feeling too well.”

“Oh,” The professor replied. “Send him my regards. Hold up after class and I’ll give you his work so he can complete it at his leisure.” 

James nodded in response while Remus added, “I’ll give him my notes from today as well.”

“Perfect! Now with that all sorted, let’s move on today’s lesson, shall we?” With a flick of his wand, the chalk floated up to begin writing on the blackboard. It held the word Gytrash written in their professor's sloppy cursive. “Who here can give me a physical description of a Gytrash?”

After a moment with no hands raised, Lily put hers up. Seizing the opportunity while their teacher’s back was turned, James whipped around to give Lily a high-five. The look of absolute terror on her face when she realized Sirius was not the only person she had to worry about was hilarious. The look was wiped from her face as soon as the professor called on her.

“Oh um. What was the question again?” Lily asked.

“Description of a Gytrash,” Ulinzi prompted with a smile.

“Right!” Lily said, laughing it off as to not seem nervous. “They appear dog-like, but are most notable due to their forked tail. They are all white, including hair, but have distinct black eyes.”

“Correct!” Professor Ulinzi said. “Now does anyone know how to scare away a Gytrash, should you run into one?”

Lily’s face looked conflicted. She did know the answer, but she was unsure if her pride could handle another high-five. In the end, she decided against answering the question; instead, Remus was called on.

“It is surprisingly easy to scare away a Gytrash because all you have to do is wave wandlight at them and they will retreat.”

“Exactly, just for the sake of practice, why don’t we go around the room and practice doing the spell for light. I’m sure you could all use a nice break from all the notetaking you have been doing in class. This time of year is usually very busy.” The students all nodded rapidly and for the rest of class they practiced the very simple lumos spell.

As promised James, Remus, and Peter all came to the Hospital Wing before lunch started.

“It was wild, Sirius!” James laughed. “The look on Evans’ face was absolutely priceless. I thought she would go mental!”

“I knew you put him up to this,” Remus exclaimed. “Poor Lily. I think you two might actually be the death of her.” All the boys laughed, reminiscing in their minds about the crazy pranks they had pulled on Lily throughout the year. Once it was dinner time the boys departed, but James ended up grabbing two plates from the Great Hall and bringing them back to the Hospital Wing so he could eat dinner with his friend. Ultimately, this ended up being a bad idea because the next morning James found himself being just as sick as his best friend was.

“I knew hanging out with Sirius wasn’t the best move. He’s highly contagious, now let’s go! I’m taking you to Madame Pomfrey. Peter?” Remus said.

“Yes,” came the timid response from Peter.

“Can you please inform Professor Flitwick that I might be a few moments late?”

“Sure!” he said eagerly. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

As he dropped James off to Madame Pomfrey, Remus had to make a similar promise to continue the high-five prank on Sirius’s behalf. He was not excited to be involved, but as per usual, he always had his friends’ back, no matter what.

In charms, one of Lily’s best subjects, Remus found it hard to remember to uphold his promise. Because of that, it wasn't until the class was halfway over that Remus high-fived Lily. Betrayal was etched in her face as she realized that one of her best friends was in on Sirius’ joke. Remus muttered a quick sorry to her, but it was obvious that a war was being waged in Lily’s mind. For the entire rest of the class Lily did not answer another question, even their professor was confused. 

Before supper, Remus and Peter went to the Hospital Wing with stuff for their friends. Remus, of course, came with notes and classwork so he could make sure his friends did not fall behind in class. On the other hand, Peter brought snacks to make sure that his friends were not hungry while they studied.

As dinner ended for the rest of the school, Peter left to go to bed. None of his friends minded though, as they knew that Peter needed his rest to be functional the next day. Remus, however, was only at the beginning of a long night. He needed to cover five different classes in only a few hours as well as assisting his friends with their homework. It was not until the early hours of the morning when they were finally done with the work they needed to do. The next morning, when Remus woke up, he was feeling less than ideal. Perhaps it was because the week prior had been pretty rough for him, but surely the long night had not helped. 

Regardless of the cause, it was pretty clear that Remus would not be at his best if he went to class. Before class started, Peter came by to check on his friends. After agreeing to the terms of the prank, he wished his friends well and headed to potions.

It was absolutely no surprise to anyone that Lily and Severus knew every answer in Potions class. Lily was not very good at the class, but with Snape by her side, she would always succeed. With the more nefarious Marauders gone, Lily assumed herself to be safe and raised her hand when she knew the answer.

Peter was never the most skilled wizard, in fact, he was quite mediocre. This prank was no different. With Lily’s hand raised, Peter got a little too eager and when he turned to high-five her, he missed her hand completely, causing himself to tumble out of his chair. Crouching beside Peter like she intended to help, Lily whispered imploringly, “Come on, Peter. You are so much better than the other three, can you just lay off for the rest of the hour?”

“But– but,”

“Please!” Lily said.

“Okay, fine,” Peter said sheepishly. “But don’t tell Sirius, he’ll think I’m a traitor.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lily said with a smile before extending her hand to help him back into his seat.

The next day, both James and Sirius were feeling well enough to go to class. Remus, on the other hand, was taking a little longer to recover and, as such, was spending another day in the Hospital Wing. Nevertheless, things were back to normal and the young Gryffindors were seated in the Transfiguration classroom. 

James might have been top of the class, but Lily was not far behind. The only difference between the two was that Lily wanted to prove her intelligence, whereas James always downplayed his abilities– a detail that was pretty ironic considering how prideful James was.

Professor McGonagall asked a question, and Sirius was not even paying attention, but the second Lily put her hands up, Sirius gave her a high-five. He had gotten used to it after all this prank had been going on for months now. It seemed this high-five was one too many for Lily because, without even a second thought, Lily’s wand was pulled out.

Never in their professor’s whole career had she heard such an impressive string of hexes. Even more surprising was who it had come from. Even though Sirius deserved it, McGonagall had no choice, but to give a detention to Lily.

“Mister Potter, please accompany Mister Black to the hospital wing. We don’t want any nasty long-term effects from these hexes. Miss Evans?”

“Yes ma’am?” Lily said, she was still shaking with a rage she was not aware she possessed.

“I’d like to speak with you after class so we can organize your detention, you may meet me in the office. As for the rest of you,” Professor McGonagall said. “Class is dismissed. Please remember to complete your assignments to turn in next Tuesday.” 

Sirius Black found that he could not hold in his laughter as James walked him to the Hospital Wing. “Oh Merlin! Evans is a feisty one, I cannot believe she pulled that off.”

“Sirius will you please shut up, you are literally turning green from that hex! But… you do have a point,” James laughed along with his friend before dropping him off with Madame Pomfrey. Leaving it to her to take care of him.

That afternoon Lily was sitting quietly in the common room, discussing a book with Remus. It was a nice way to spend a quiet afternoon, but the calmness was disturbed when the rest of the Marauders busted in loudly carrying a tray full of treats.

“Congratulations, Evans!” James shouted.

“On what, may I ask?” Lily was clearly confused.

“Your first detention,” Sirius said this like it was so obvious what they were doing. “This is a momentous occasion we must celebrate.”

“Of course you lot would want to celebrate me getting into trouble,” she laughed. Lily saw no point in pretending to be mad, what had happened was already over and done. She was going to have detention whether she liked it or not, so in her mind, why not eat some free food. Besides. The house-elves must have worked so hard, she could not possibly let it go to waste.


	37. It's a Duel

It was pretty clear to the Marauders that Defense Against the Dark Arts was Remus’ favorite class at Hogwarts and it was for good reason. Pretty much everyone loved the class and the lesson they were partaking in today was no different. When the students walked into Professor Ulinzi’s class they were met with a blackboard wielding one word: Duel.

“Um professor? Is this allowed?” A small voice piped in and, upon looking, James noticed that it was Clover who asked. Clover was a first-year, same as the rest of them, but was in Slytherin. It did not take long to realize that, above all, Clover valued the rules. This detail about her became quite tiresome over the year and she was the cause of many ruined events. 

“No worries, Miss Travers,” assured Professor Ulinzi. “I already cleared today’s lesson with the headmaster. Also I spoke to Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn to make sure they knew what their houses’ youngest members were involved in.”

“Okay,” Clover said, but her tone made it seem as though she was not okay with the situation. “I was just checking”

“Your concern for your classmates is greatly appreciated,” their professor said sincerely. It always amazed the Marauders at how Ulinzi could be cool under pressure. Children could throw an absolute fit in his presence and he would remain completely in control of the situation, in all honesty it was quite the skill. It was likely that Dumbledore and their house heads only allowed him to host this class because he was such a good teacher. What is even more surprising was that this school year was his very first at Hogwarts as a teacher.

“So for today’s lesson you all need to pick a partner. Since this is a particularly dangerous lesson I would prefer you to work with someone you are comfortable with. Take a few moments and once you’ve got your partner, stand next to them.”

As unsurprisingly as ever, James and Sirius rushed to stand next to each other. All the teachers, and students, knew that if there was an assignment where you could pick your partners, the Marauders would pair up amongst themselves. 

“Have you all got yourselves sorted out?” Ulinzi asked; all the students nodded in confirmation around the classroom. “Great! Everyone pick a table and sit down in with your partners– it doesn’t matter if it was the same desk you were sitting in before. You guys are going to come up one pair at a time, that way nothing gets out of hand and I can monitor you more closely. “A big part of today’s lesson is the importance of proper dueling etiquette. Dueling goes way back in history and there are a lot of different rules and restrictions on how to go about it. The people involved stand an equal distance away from where they stood originally. And, perhaps the most important detail involved, remember to bow to your opponent before assuming an appropriate fighting stance. Questions before we begin?”  
Remus raised his hand and got called on very quickly. “What spells are we allowed to use today? I assume there are some restrictions.”

“Ah yes!” Professor Ulinzi exclaimed. “Thank you for the reminder I almost forgot. That would have been quite the event,” he laughed, but no one else seemed to find the humor in it. “You are allowed to use the following spells, and don't worry they will be written on the board as well: Expelliarmus, Finite Incantatem, Locomotor Mortis, and Stupefy– though I know many of you are not very proficient in these.” Their professor’s voice suddenly turned grave, “If you use any spells besides those, you will face severe consequences.” Moving back into his normal tone, Ulinzi moved on with the lesson. “Any volunteers for the first pair?” 

A very eager Severus Snape rose his hand, seemingly with Lily’s approval because she did not seem too upset about it. “Excellent! Come on to the front then,” Professor Ulinzi smiled at the pair as they walked to the open space at the front of the classroom. The pair stood, facing each other only a few feet away.

“Wands at the ready,” Ulinzi said in a clear voice. Lily and Snape raised their wands before turning around and pacing a few feet. Once they were an appropriate distance apart, they bowed and assumed the dueling stance. “On the count of three! One… Two… Three!”

“Expelliarmus!” Lily shouted.

“Finite Incantatem,” Severus countered, dodging Lily’s spell. “Stupefy,” he tried, but the spell ended up fizzling out because he was not as practiced with that spell.

The botched spell gave Lily the upper hand and she once more shouted, “Expelliarmus.” This time, Severus was unable to block her spell and his wand flew out of his hand and clattered to the floor a few feet away.

“Well done!” their professor praised. “You may both take your seats.”

“We could do better than that,” James whispered to Sirius.

“Well then let’s go next,” Sirius laughed.

“Who wants to go next,” Ulinzi asked.

“I do!” Sirius shouted.

“A hand raise would have sufficed, but I appreciate your enthusiasm, come on up! I assume you’re working with James.” Professor Ulinzi was spot on, as per usual. James and Sirius walked up to the front and brought their wands up to eye level.

“Ready, James?”

James scoffed, “I’m always ready!” Turning on their heels the pair paced several feet away from each other. They both raised their arms to get in their fighting stance and waited for the countdown.

“One… Two… Three!”

“Stupefy!” Sirius yelled casting the spell towards his friend.

“Finite Incantartem,” James deflected the spell with a smirk but moved quickly to cast a counter-attack. “Locomotor Mortis!”

At the same time, Sirius cast a Disarming Charm. For a few seconds their magic collided and they were at a standstill. Eventually, James found a way to break away without getting hit with charm and quickly cast another spell. “Stupefy!” he shouted, and this time it hit Sirius. 

Unfortunately, the spell was not as effective as James hoped, but Sirius still loudly said, “Nice one James!”

“Thanks, mate!” James smiled for a second and Sirius used it to his advantage.

“Expelliarmus,” Sirius tried the spell again, but James managed to deflect it at the last second.

“Locomotor Mortis!” The spell James cast finally landed and Sirius’ legs locked together causing him to fall.

“That was amazing!” Their professor’s voice chimed in. “You both show great promise, if you keep this up you could both make great Aurors.” 

James thanked his professor and walked over to Sirius, extending his arm to help him up after undoing his curse. Taking his hand with a smile, Sirius stood up.

“Well played,” he laughed while clapping James on the back. “Well played!”


	38. Lions and Ravens

While Gryffindor was always proud, they never had more house spirit than during Quidditch matches. Today, for example, breakfast saw a wave of red and gold covering the Gryffindor table. Even a portion of the Hufflepuff table was sporting their lion paraphernalia. Slytherin, on the other hand, was in full support of Ravenclaw. This was not surprising given the long rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but in today’s case, it created an imbalance in support for the upcoming game. Nevertheless, the Gryffindor pride could not be crushed.

As the daily schedule shifted into the Quidditch game nearly every Hogwarts student was packed into the stands on the Quidditch pitch. Because they had spent too much time joking around at breakfast, the Marauders ended up a few minutes late to the game. Even though it was relatively early on in the game, the Gryffindor team had already scored 20 points. 

“I’m not even surprised our team is great this year,” Sirius said.

“Yeah, but it’s such a shame we are losing so many great players next year!” James’ tone sounded genuinely sad. It was completely indicative of his behavior that James would only be sad if Quidditch was involved.

“Are we?” Remus said. “I wasn’t aware we had so many seventh years on the team.”

“It’s pretty crazy, we’re losing a beater, a seeker, and a chaser,” James elaborated.

“Not to mention our lovely announcer, Cynthia Lonawey.” 

“Got a crush, Sirius!” Remus joked.

“Mate she’s seventeen!” Sirius exclaimed. “Bit of a crazy age gap don’t ya think?”

“Just a joke,” Remus defended. “Don’t worry.”

“You know,” James said. “You would be a pretty good announcer, you got the authoritative voice for it.”

“I don't know the game well enough to explain it to others,” Remus laughed.

“Well, you’ll catch on pretty soon after we make the team.” James gestured between Sirius and himself. 

“You’re pretty confident that you’re going to make the team,” Remus mused.

“Not a lot of people are built to be seekers, but I’ve been practicing, so I think I’ll get it.” James defended.

“Your broom got sent home, how are you practicing?”

“Okay fine, Remus, I haven’t practiced recently, but I have all of the summer holiday.”

“I guess that makes sense. What are you going to go out for, Sirius?”

“Probably Beater. ‘M not sure why, but it seems like a good position for me.”

“I think you’d make a fine beater,” James smiled.

“Me too,” Remus said. “What about you, Peter?”

“Hmm?” Peter said nervously.

“Are you going to try out for the team next year?” James filled in.

“Oh, um… I don’t think so.” He looked skittish, but that was pretty normal for him. “I mean, It’s not really for me,” he rushed through the sentence trying to defend himself.

“No worries, you and I can watch those two idiots fall of their broom” Remus laughed, and thankfully, Peter laughed along with him. James and Sirius on the other hand did not seem as amused.

“GOOD GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” James screamed, standing up. “CATCH THE QUAFFLE YOU BLITHERING IDIOT.” Currently, all of the Gryffindor supporters were on the edge of their seats while Ravenclaw was in possession of the ball. One of their chasers had stolen the quaffle when a Gryffindor player had passed it.

“And with an impressive move from the Ravenclaw team captain, the two teams are now tied!” Cynthia’s announcement caused a loud disappointed uproar from the Gryffindor students. Everyone was tense knowing that it was anyone’s game at the moment. The game continued on for what felt like forever to the Marauders, but the two teams remained neck and neck. 

“What’s that over there? It seems the Gryffindor seeker has spotted the snitch! She swoops down in pursuit, but it looks like the Ravenclaw seeker is hot on her trail.” Cynthia’s voice was getting increasingly excited with each word. “It looks as though Gryffindor has hold of the snitch!” Students watched as the Ravenclaw beater hit a bludger aimed straight toward the Gryffindor seeker, knocking her off her broom. In the fall, she had let go of the snitch, allowing the Ravenclaw seeker to grab the snitch. “With Ravenclaw in possession of the snitch, they win the game!!”

“THAT’S RUBBISH!” Sirius screamed.

“THE GAME WAS ALREADY OVER,” James added. Much of Gryffindor was in a similar state as they yelled for a recall.

“Seeing as Madame Hooch has made it official, the call stands!” Cynthia said into the microphone.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” James complained. 

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” Remus agreed.

“The fact that they allow CHEATING” the latter part of Sirius’s sentence was shouted for everyone around to hear. 

“Everyone please go back to your dormitories,” McGonagall said into the microphone. “I want to hear no fighting.”

“WELL I’M PISSED” Sirius shouted. 

“And absolutely no expletives” McGonagall added in a disappointed tone. 

“Whatever, let’s go!” Sirius said. Once they were back in the common room, the boys sat to further complain about the unfair call from the game. After about an hour, the Gryffindor Team Captain came into the common room.

“Is Julia okay?” Remus asked.

“She’s resting in the hospital wing right now, but she should be fine by dinner. It’s just a mild concussion.” He said gravely.

“That’s good to hear,” Remus said. “I’m so sorry about the game!”

“You and me both, kid.” He patted Remus on the shoulder, “You and me both”


	39. The House Cup

If Hogwarts knew how to do anything, it was how to throw a nice feast. Throughout the year, the school celebrated many events in a most auspicious manner. As the school year comes to a close, there was a feast to commemorate the year as well as announce the winner of the House Cup. And while Hufflepuff was the winner of the Quidditch Cup, Slytherin had been in lead for house points through the past few weeks. It was honestly anyone’s guess who the winner would be. 

As all the students filed into the Great Hall wearing their nicer robes and house colored ties the room was filled with busy excitement. The Marauders sat fairly close to the front of the Gryffindor table and Lily and Marlene sat near them talking to Remus and Sirius respectively. A comfortable buzz covered the room as many students cast guesses about who they thought would win the House Cup.

“Ahem,” Dumbledore said in a calm voice. “Before the feast begins, I would like to say a few words.” Once everyone was silent, or at least quiet, their headmaster continued. “Before we dive into our delicious feast, I hope I can hold your attention while I ramble for a bit. This year has been delightful if I do say so myself! I hope as you depart for your summer holiday you can take some newfound wisdom with you. With the best of luck, I will get to see all of you next year, with the exception of our seventh-year students who will be dearly missed. 

“Now, of course, I have not forgotten about the house cup, which is what you’ve all been waiting for. So, without any further delay, the points are as follows: In fourth place, Ravenclaw, with three hundred and nine points; in third, Gryffindor, with three hundred and forty-eight; second place goes to Slytherin at four hundred and fifty-one and, in first, Hufflepuff, who’s total came to four hundred and ninety points.” 

With a simple clap of his hands, Dumbledore changed the plain hangings to become yellow and black; and a Hufflepuff badger appeared at the front of the room near the teacher’s table. Cheering erupted all over the hall and most of the Hufflepuff table was on their feet rejoicing with each other over their win. Once the cheers subsided and people had calmed down, for the most part, Dumbledore spoke again.

“Will all the good news out of the way, I will hold you no further,” With a snap of his fingers, the platters on all of the tables filled with food.

“Least we beat Ravenclaw,” James laughed, piling food onto his plate.

“We probably could have come in first if you lot hadn’t spent all your time pulling pranks,” Lily said.

“Perhaps,” Sirius shrugged. “But you’ve got to admit we were the most interesting part of this year.”

“For better or for worse,” Remus added.

“Well it’s for better if you ask me,” James smiled.

“Its really crazy that the year is already over,” Marlene interjected. “It seemed like it went by so fast!”

“Yeah well serving weekly detention tends to drag it out,” James said with a laugh.

“Don’t bother complaining,” Lily said. “It’s your own fault you got detention.”

“Hey, we were just trying to have some fun!” Sirius defended. “Besides, you’re not so innocent yourself, you know, or did you forget hexing me straight into the hospital wing?”

Lily’s face fell “I’ve tried apologized a thousand times, but you–”

“Relax, Evans!” Sirius smirked. “I’m just messing with you. Of course, I’m not mad, I deserved it to be honest.”

“Why couldn’t you just end the stupid prank, you’re so stubborn,”

“Stubborn is my middle name,” Sirius said in his usual cocky tone.

“Actually it’s Orion,” Remus interjected. 

“REMUS!” Sirius exclaimed in shock. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone, can’t trust you with anything can I?”

“James would have let it slip eventually,” Remus said.

“That’s so rude!” James said, feigning annoyance. “But you’re not wrong.”

“Orion, huh?” Lily said. “Your parents must really love astronomy.”

“They do,” Sirius said with a sigh. “It’s kind of annoying in all honesty. My brother’s name is Regulus Arcturus.”

Lily groaned, “There’s another one! I think one of you is bad enough.”

“Oh don’t worry, Regulus is nothing like me. He’s a shoo-in for Slytherin, someone’s got to make up for the disrespect I brought upon my family name.” Sirius laughed as he said it, but his tone seemed forced. Only his friends knew the sadder truth behind his joke.

“So he’s coming next year?” Marlene asked. “Regulus I mean.”

“Yep,” Sirius confirmed. “He’s only a year younger than me, but of course he’s the favorite child.”

“Man I wish I had siblings,” James sighed.

“Me too,” said Remus.

“Yeah, that would be fun,” Peter agreed.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Lily laughed. “My sister hates me because she doesn’t have magic.”

“Oh I didn’t know that,” James said in a sad tone. “That must be rough, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” She said and she even sounded genuine. “I’m hoping to repair the relationship over the summer.”

“That’s great!” Remus said. “I hope that works out, Lily.”

“Me too!” She said.

“Guys have you noticed that almost everyone is gone,” Marlene laughed. The group looked around to see that Marlene was right. The Great Hall was mostly empty with a few teachers and some groups of friends scattered around.

“I guess we got caught up talking,” James said.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed. “Do you guys want to head up to the common room?”

“Maybe in a minute,” Lily said. “I’m really enjoying just sitting with you guys” And so they sat, for around another hour. The time was spent reminiscing on the year that was coming to an end; the laughs they shared, the pranks, and even the sad moments that happened.


	40. Homebound

“Can’t I just do it tomorrow!” James groaned as he stayed on his bed.

“We leave tomorrow,” Remus said. “And I know you don’t want to wake up at four in the morning tomorrow to pack, can you please just get up and pack!”

“Ugh fine,” James said dragging out his words.

“Thank you, James!” Remus said relieved. “It’s your turn now,” Remus said facing Sirius.

“Can’t you just be satisfied that you got James to pack, I’m not going to,” Sirius said.

“Like it or not you do have to go home tomorrow and delaying packing will not change that.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” Sirius laughed as he got off his bed. The boys hustled about their shared room throwing things into their trunks, only bothering to fold the clothing on occasion when the trunk was a little too full. 

“Has anyone seen my scarf?” James asked loudly. 

“They all look the same, James!” Sirius laughed. “Just grab the one on the desk.”

“Okay, but I looked at that one and I know it’s not mine.” 

“How could you possibly know that,” Remus inquired.

“I just do!” James said quickly. “Can you three just grab yours to make sure we didn’t accidentally switch?”

“Fine,” Sirius said, pulling a red and gold striped scarf from his trunk and offering it to James. 

After giving it a once over, James definitively said, “Nope this one’s not mine.”

“Whatever, mate,” Sirius said putting the scarf back in his trunk.

“Here’s the one from my trunk,” Peter offered. Once again, James looked it over and came to the conclusion that it was not his scarf.

“Alright, Remus, pass me the one you’ve packed. It’s got to be mine.” James said. With a sigh, Remus rummaged through his neatly packed trunk, which had been mostly organized the night before, and retrieved the Gryffindor scarf he had.

“Yep, this is it!” James shouted. “Yours is probably the one on the desk then.”

“Not that I care, but how do you know that one is yours?” Remus said while packing the scarf from the desk.

“I don’t have to reveal my secrets,” James said.

“Oh yes you do,” Sirius said. “I will annoy it out of you if I have to.”

“It’s embarrassing!” James said. “Why do you all care so much,”

“It’s gonna bug us all summer if you don’t tell us!” Peter said.

“You guys are so dramatic but fine,” James said. “I’ll tell you!” Taking a deep breath, James pulled out the scarf. “Over the winter holiday, my mum cross-stitched my initials in the corner, it’s pretty small, but it’s right there.”

“Was that so difficult,” Remus said, returning his attention back to his packing.

“AW, little Jamesy-Wamesy got a present from his mum. How precious!”

“Sod off, Sirius!” James said. “This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you guys.”

“Well I think it’s sweet,” Peter said. 

“Thank you, Peter!” James said.

By the time dinner rolled around, all four of the Marauders had actually managed to pack all of their stuff. A calm and almost somber mood covered the Great Hall as the students enjoyed their very last meal of the term. That night the Gryffindor common room was full of seventh years, as well as some of their younger friends, sharing stories about their years in school. It was both a sad and happy moment for them as they entered a new chapter of their lives. Upstairs, however, the young first years slept peacefully, preparing for the train ride home. For them, their journey had only begun.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, the students of Hogwarts got ready for their early morning train ride. Surprisingly, the Marauders made it downstairs before the last minute and managed to grab a compartment near the back of the train.

“Thank god the seats weren’t all filled up! Can you imagine if we couldn’t sit together on the ride home?” James said.

“That probably would have happened if Mooney didn’t drag us all out of bed this morning,” Sirius laughed.

“Well it worked, so I don’t want to hear complaints,” Remus defended.

“It’s weird that the year is over,” James said. “I kinda don’t wanna go home.”

“You’re telling me!” Sirius said. “Hogwarts is more of a home than 12 Grimmauld Place will ever be!”

“Speaking of, did you write down the address for me? I don't want my owl to get lost trying to deliver to you,” James asked.

“Yeah, I wrote it down on some spare parchment and put one in each of your trunks,” Sirius said.

“Thanks,” James said. “I still need Peter and Remus though.”

“Anyone have some parchment on them?” Remus asked.

“I think so, hold on,” Peter said grabbing his bag from above him. “Ah! Here it is,” he ripped the paper into smaller pieces to distribute to the boys. They each wrote down their addresses to make sure everyone had all three of them. 

“We are all gonna write this summer right?” Peter asked quietly.

“Of course!” Remus said. “I didn’t think I’d have any friends at Hogwarts and to be lucky enough to find you three,” he paused. “I’d be mental to let you guys go just because I won’t see you for a few months.”

“And don’t forget,” James chimed in. “My mum said you guys are welcome to visit anytime. If your parents will allow it of course.”

“Well I don’t know if my parents will let me leave the house much, but I’ll be sure to write as much as I can!” Sirius promised.

With promises made, and the conversations dying down, the train finally pulled into King’s Cross Station. The boys were in no rush, which was lucky for them because they were some of the last students off the train. As they stepped onto the platform their eyes scanned the area for their parents. Peter spotted his parents first and quickly ran to join them, waving goodbye to his friends before leaving for the summer.

Close to the platform exit, stood Sirius’ father and mother. The pair spotted Sirius before Sirius spotted them. When Sirius made eye contact with them he was met with an almost angry look. Without bothering to hug his friends, Sirius walked to join his parents.

“He must’ve spotted his mum and dad,” James shrugged.

“I guess,” Remus said a little skeptically.

As the platform cleared a little, James finally spotted his parents. With a quick hug and sincere goodbye, James and Remus split up to go with their parents. For the first time in a long while, the Marauders were all separated. 

The finality of the year settled upon all four of them as they each drove home. It occurred to all of them that, come September, they would have changed. Luckily, no matter what change will come, Hogwarts will always be there. It will not have changed; the thick stone walls and the magic buzzing in the air will remain, ready to welcome all of the students back home.


End file.
